Photo by kimberlyfayeThe D.C. War Memorial is charmingly modest, a comparatively small silhouette on the National Mall that for years has been neglected while tucked away in its quiet grove on the north side of Independence Avenue.
The tribute to the District’s World War I veterans was once a source of great pride for the city. But its remote location afforded it little foot traffic, and years of inattention left it cracked, faded and embarrassingly lackluster. In 2009, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds were allocated to renovate the memorial. It’s been closed to visitors for the past year while repairs were being made.
On November 10, the D.C. War Memorial will re-open.
On Thursday, at 11:00 am, the National Park Service, the D.C. Preservation League, the Trust for the National Mall and the World War I Memorial Foundation will host a re-opening celebration. It will be a festive occasion. But discord will lurk beneath the cheer.
Restoring the D.C. War Memorial is a victory for the city, for preservationists and for civic organizations. But what lingers now is a debate over whether or not the D.C. War Memorial — the only local memorial on the Mall — should be rededicated to honor not only the District’s war dead, but all those who perished in the Great War.
Two pieces of legislation were reintroduced in Congress earlier this year that call for rededicating the D.C. War Memorial as a national memorial in preparation for the centennial celebration of World War I — one bill was introduced by Rep. Ted Poe (R-TX), the other by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV). The bill also calls for rededicating the Liberty Memorial of Kansas City.
Founders of the World War I Memorial Foundation, which is co-sponsoring the event, believe the absence of a WWI memorial on the Mall doesn’t do WWI veterans justice, since the Mall includes national memorials for Vietnam, Korea and World War II. They support rededication.
But D.C. voting rights advocates see rededication as an affront to D.C. sovereignty — something that compromises the integrity of the District’s original intention when it paid for and built the memorial.
In advance of Thursday’s celebration, some D.C. civic groups, such as the Association of the Oldest Inhabitants (AOI) and the Rhodes Tavern-D.C. Heritage Society, are calling for the District’s elected leaders and residents to attend the re-opening of the D.C. War Memorial and voice their support for keeping it local. Both groups support Pershing Park as an alternative site for a national memorial.
Bill Brown, president of the AOI, said they’re not trying to detract from the celebration.
“We’re not going there to come and raise Cain — our thrust of all this is to get Norton, Brown and Gray to politely and nicely work into their remarks that the centennial commission is great, do what you want with Kansas City, but keep your hands off the D.C. War Memorial.”
Joe Grano, president of the Rhodes Tavern-D.C. Heritage Society, is encouraging supporters to protest silently, by waving D.C. flags.
Edwin Fountain, founder of the World War I Memorial Foundation, believes those who are pushing back against rededication misunderstand what his organization is trying to accomplish.
“We are not trying to take away the local character of the D.C. memorial, but to elevate and bring more attention to the memorial by adding a national component to it, so that it will have equal status with the three other memorials around it,” Fountain said. “That will bring more visitors to the D.C. memorial. That is why the legislation proposes to call it the ‘District of Columbia and National World War I Memorial.’”
Fountain said he will not mention rededication in his remarks.
So where does D.C.’s elected leadership stand?
Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton introduced a resolution this summer to keep the memorial local. Norton’s chief of staff, Sheila E. Bunn, said “Congresswoman Norton, who was invited to speak at the event, will use the opportunity to make clear that the memorial is for D.C. World War I veterans only.”
This November, the D.C. Council passed the “District of Columbia War Memorial Recognition Resolution of 2011,” which was introduced by Chairman Kwame Brown to “acknowledge and promote the continued status of the District of Columbia War Memorial as a local District memorial on the National Mall.” Brown’s deputy chief of staff, Karen Siebert, said he is planning to attend the celebration.
This summer, Mayor Vince Gray conveyed his support for keeping the memorial local. Spokeswoman Doxie McCoy confirmed that Gray will speak at the event, where “he will voice support for all from the District and from all over who served and died for our nation.”
In 2009, Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans introduced a Council resolution in support of national rededication and is listed as an honorary trustee at the World War I Memorial Foundation. His spokesman, Andrew Huff, said that Evans now supports keeping the memorial local. It’s unclear why Evans changed his position.
National Park Service spokesman Bill Line said the D.C. War Memorial looks “pristine” for its unveiling. Line said the original figure that came down from Congress to renovate the memorial was $10.6 million, but the final amount ended up being $3.6 million.
“We are happy and delighted and pleased that Congress provided the money so we were able to make these needed improvements,” Line said.
