thedrifter
06-03-08, 07:06 AM
Korea vets oppose moving memorial
Web Posted: 06/03/2008 02:13 AM CDT
By Sig Christenson
Express-News
The morning after Memorial Day, Wilfred Gold stood in front of the monument to Korean War veterans across from Municipal Auditorium, dropped his head and stared at the ground.
The bricks at his feet bore his name and those of other war veterans — any of them could be the two bronze GIs in a bigger-than-life frosty foxhole near the auditorium.
“We're at a place now that's very prominent,” said Gold, 77, an alumnus of Charlie Company, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. “It's apparent that someone else wants that place of prominence”
Gold called the Korean War monument, dedicated Dec. 11, 1994, “hallowed ground” and came close to tears while talking about it at a hearing this week. His emotional response came after being asked about moving the statue as the city prepares to build a memorial honoring 16 area Medal of Honor recipients.
No decision has been made, but reaction was visceral. Korean War veteran Chris Monestier, 78, noting the monument “Night Watch” had been dedicated years ago, told the crowd of three dozen or so, “Let's leave it alone.”
Talk of moving an existing monument at Veterans Memorial Plaza isn't new, as are worries that the site isn't big enough to handle another statue. But city officials hadn't said which one might be relocated until this week, and those at the meeting seemed dumbstruck.
“This is in the middle of a war, and it's sending a future signal. I do worry about that,” said Estelle Kelly, daughter of a Korean War triage nurse and the aunt of a soldier who just deployed to Iraq. “We move history, we move their significance. That's not a society that values our civics, our civic duty.”
The plaza memorials include bronze statues of Korean and Vietnam veterans, and a granite marker commemorating the Battle of the Bulge. The auditorium opened in 1926 in tribute to World War I veterans and will get a facelift as it is transformed into a performing arts center — a project funded by the just-approved venue tax extension.
The Medal of Honor memorial, however, will be paid for with privately raised funds and is separate from plans to transform the auditorium and possibly even link it to River North.
The City Council voted in mid-March to pay Tucson, Ariz., artist Barbara Grygutis $50,000 to design the Medal of Honor memorial, and local businessman Louis Stumberg pledged to donate the first $10,000 for construction. The memorial is expected to cost from $750,000 to $1 million, with Mayor Phil Hardberger leading a fund-raising drive.
It isn't yet clear what the memorial will look like. Grygutis submitted a “conceptual design” during a competition and will draft three versions — with hearings to be held in the coming months, said Carmelina Davis, senior economic development specialist and liaison to the city's veterans' affairs commission.
Ed Davis, assistant director for the city's Economic Development Department, said Grygutis asked the group about moving the monument because the plaza has little room to grow.
“She wanted to get it out there because she wanted to get some feedback. She's not pushing that idea; we're not pushing that idea,” said Davis, a retired Air Force colonel. “I think she heard pretty clearly that wasn't something that group would want to see happen, and that was good input.”
Still, veterans at the meeting shared concern over talk of moving the monument and also the city's plans for the Medal of Honor memorial. The plaza was meant to be a site for future war memorials, but at least one monument — to Purple Heart recipients — was placed elsewhere downtown, said John Baines. A Vietnam-era Seabee who led the fund-raising drive to build the plaza in the mid-1980s, he told those at the hearing, “I think the thing that distresses me the most is how the plaza has fallen into disrepair over the years.”
Davis doesn't dispute the point but said officials hope to raise enough money for an endowment to maintain the plaza. He also said the Medal of Honor monument would have to pass muster with the Historic Design and Review Commission.
Gold entered the war on Christmas Day 1950 as U.S.-led forces reeled from China's entry into the conflict. A plaque on “Night Watch” tallies the war's toll: 54,246 dead, 103,000 wounded, 8,177 missing in action and 7,000 POWs — 51 percent dying in enemy camps.
“It's a memorial to a group of young men who went to Korea and fought for the country, and most of us are gone,” he said. “To remove all that, not knowing where it's going or if it will be done in a professional way, I'm just vehemently opposed. And you saw my reaction. It just about tore me apart.”
Ellie
Web Posted: 06/03/2008 02:13 AM CDT
By Sig Christenson
Express-News
The morning after Memorial Day, Wilfred Gold stood in front of the monument to Korean War veterans across from Municipal Auditorium, dropped his head and stared at the ground.
The bricks at his feet bore his name and those of other war veterans — any of them could be the two bronze GIs in a bigger-than-life frosty foxhole near the auditorium.
“We're at a place now that's very prominent,” said Gold, 77, an alumnus of Charlie Company, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. “It's apparent that someone else wants that place of prominence”
Gold called the Korean War monument, dedicated Dec. 11, 1994, “hallowed ground” and came close to tears while talking about it at a hearing this week. His emotional response came after being asked about moving the statue as the city prepares to build a memorial honoring 16 area Medal of Honor recipients.
No decision has been made, but reaction was visceral. Korean War veteran Chris Monestier, 78, noting the monument “Night Watch” had been dedicated years ago, told the crowd of three dozen or so, “Let's leave it alone.”
Talk of moving an existing monument at Veterans Memorial Plaza isn't new, as are worries that the site isn't big enough to handle another statue. But city officials hadn't said which one might be relocated until this week, and those at the meeting seemed dumbstruck.
“This is in the middle of a war, and it's sending a future signal. I do worry about that,” said Estelle Kelly, daughter of a Korean War triage nurse and the aunt of a soldier who just deployed to Iraq. “We move history, we move their significance. That's not a society that values our civics, our civic duty.”
The plaza memorials include bronze statues of Korean and Vietnam veterans, and a granite marker commemorating the Battle of the Bulge. The auditorium opened in 1926 in tribute to World War I veterans and will get a facelift as it is transformed into a performing arts center — a project funded by the just-approved venue tax extension.
The Medal of Honor memorial, however, will be paid for with privately raised funds and is separate from plans to transform the auditorium and possibly even link it to River North.
The City Council voted in mid-March to pay Tucson, Ariz., artist Barbara Grygutis $50,000 to design the Medal of Honor memorial, and local businessman Louis Stumberg pledged to donate the first $10,000 for construction. The memorial is expected to cost from $750,000 to $1 million, with Mayor Phil Hardberger leading a fund-raising drive.
It isn't yet clear what the memorial will look like. Grygutis submitted a “conceptual design” during a competition and will draft three versions — with hearings to be held in the coming months, said Carmelina Davis, senior economic development specialist and liaison to the city's veterans' affairs commission.
Ed Davis, assistant director for the city's Economic Development Department, said Grygutis asked the group about moving the monument because the plaza has little room to grow.
“She wanted to get it out there because she wanted to get some feedback. She's not pushing that idea; we're not pushing that idea,” said Davis, a retired Air Force colonel. “I think she heard pretty clearly that wasn't something that group would want to see happen, and that was good input.”
Still, veterans at the meeting shared concern over talk of moving the monument and also the city's plans for the Medal of Honor memorial. The plaza was meant to be a site for future war memorials, but at least one monument — to Purple Heart recipients — was placed elsewhere downtown, said John Baines. A Vietnam-era Seabee who led the fund-raising drive to build the plaza in the mid-1980s, he told those at the hearing, “I think the thing that distresses me the most is how the plaza has fallen into disrepair over the years.”
Davis doesn't dispute the point but said officials hope to raise enough money for an endowment to maintain the plaza. He also said the Medal of Honor monument would have to pass muster with the Historic Design and Review Commission.
Gold entered the war on Christmas Day 1950 as U.S.-led forces reeled from China's entry into the conflict. A plaque on “Night Watch” tallies the war's toll: 54,246 dead, 103,000 wounded, 8,177 missing in action and 7,000 POWs — 51 percent dying in enemy camps.
“It's a memorial to a group of young men who went to Korea and fought for the country, and most of us are gone,” he said. “To remove all that, not knowing where it's going or if it will be done in a professional way, I'm just vehemently opposed. And you saw my reaction. It just about tore me apart.”
Ellie