BGuthrie Photos: DC -- National World War I Memorial (Pershing Park)

DC -- National World War I Memorial (Pershing Park):

Bruce Guthrie Photos Home Page: [Click here] to go to Bruce Guthrie Photos home page.

Description of Pictures: The National World War I Memorial opened on April 16, 2021. Images before that date are the site under construction.

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Copyrights: All pictures were taken by amateur photographer Bruce Guthrie (me!) who retains copyright on them. Free for non-commercial use with attribution. See the [Creative Commons] definition of what this means. "Photos (c) Bruce Guthrie" is fine for attribution. (Commercial use folks including AI scrapers can of course contact me.) Feel free to use in publications and pages with attribution but you don't have permission to sell the photos themselves. A free copy of any printed publication using any photographs is requested. Descriptive text, if any, is from a mixture of sources, quite frequently from signs at the location or from official web sites; copyrights, if any, are retained by their original owners.

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. PERSH_210124_01.JPG: Opening April 2021 www.icc.org
2. PERSH_210124_33.JPG: You can make out some of the writing on the ring: Cambrai * Somme Defensive
3. PERSH_210220_19.JPG: And of course they need the anti-skateboarding things to stop those vandals.
4. PERSH_210220_32.JPG: Note they've already installed the "World War Memorial" stones
5. PERSH_210303_11.JPG: Opening April 2021 ww1cc.org
6. PERSH_210313_24.JPG: Justrite Flammable Keep Fire Away Inflamable mantegna alejado del fuego [ Spanish: Flammable keep away from fire ] Inflammable tenir loin des flammes [ French: Flammable keep away from flames ] [ I've always been perturbed by the word "inflammable" . According to https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/inflammable Why Inflammable Is Not the Opposite of Flammable Combustible and incombustible are opposites, but flammable and inflammable are synonyms. How can that be? The in- of incombustible is a common prefix meaning "not," but the in- of inflammable is a different prefix. Inflammable, which dates back to 1605, descends from Latin inflammare ("to inflame"), itself from in- (here meaning "in" or "into") plus flammare ("to flame"). Flammable also comes from flammare but didn't enter English until 1813. In the early 20th century, firefighters worried that people might think inflammable meant "not able to catch fire," so they adopted flammable and nonflammable as official safety labels and encouraged their use to prevent confusion. In general use, flammable is now the preferred term for describing things that can catch fire, but inflammable is still occasionally used with that meaning as well. ]
7. PERSH_210313_44.JPG: WWI Memorial Lorton Stone Priv: ADD9
8. PERSH_210319_030.JPG: 2021 World War I Centennial Commission American Battle Monuments Commission Joseph Weishaar * Designer Sabin Howard * Sculptor GW WO Architects * Architect of Record David Ruin Land Collective * Landscape architect
9. PERSH_210320_15.JPG: "In their devotion, their valor, and in the loyal fulfillment of their obligations, the officers and men of the American Expeditionary Force have left a heritage of which those who follow may ever be proud." -- John J. Pershing
10. PERSH_210329_010.JPG: They really hauled ass as they got closer to the official opening of the memorial in April.
11. PERSH_210329_026.JPG: The eagle statue is back!
12. PERSH_210404_06.JPG: The memorial opened to the public less than two weeks later.
13. PERSH_210411_01.JPG: The public opening of the memorial would occur five days later on April 16.
14. PERSH_210416_020.JPG: "Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope Or for nothing, we cannot say, it is you who must say this They say we leave you our deaths, give them their meaning We were young, they say, we have died, remember us." -- Archibald MacLeish
15. PERSH_210416_039.JPG: Encircling the exterior of the Belvedere are listed the names of the campaigns in which U.S. forces participated during the war: Cambrai Somme Defensive Lys Aisne Montdidier-Noyon Champagne-Marne Aisne-Marne Somme Offensive Oise-Aisne Ypres-Lys Saint Mihiel Meuse-Argonne Vittorio Veneto North Russia Siberia Atlantic Convoys Western Atlantic North Sea Mediterranean
16. PERSH_210416_042.JPG: "Never before have men crossed the seas to a foreign land To fight for a cause which they did not pretend was peculiarly their own, But knew was the cause of humanity and of mankind." -- President Woodrow Wilson
17. PERSH_210416_047.JPG: From https://www.nps.gov/wwim/learn/historyculture/journey.htm A Soldier's Journey Memorial architect Joe Weishaar calls Sabin Howard's A Soldier's Journey sculpture "The Everyman." Thirty-eight separate figures, spread over approximately 58 feet of wall towards the western end of the Memorial Core, portray the experience of one American soldier. Starting from the left, the soldier takes leave from his wife and daughter, charges into combat, sees men around him killed, wounded, and gassed, and recovers from the shock to come home to his family. The figures are mounted on the wall. In the departure, the soldier's daughter hand him his helmet, while his wife touches him with a restraining arm, as if to hold him back as he answers the call to battle – representing the debate over American involvement in the war. In the initiation, the soldier joins the parade to war, as the United States joins the epic battle in Europe. The parade, and the work as a whole, includes African Americans and other ethnic groups who answered their country's call. In the middle scene, the ordeal, the parade devolves into the tension before the charge and then the tumult of desperate and violent combat. At the center our hero calls his comrades into battle, illustrating the famous American battle cry from Belleau Wood: "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?" The aftermath depicts the physical and mental wounds of the fighters. Here are represented American women who served at home and on the fighting front. And here the turbulent, left-to-right narrative pauses, as the hero stops and looks directly at the viewer. The soldier's look of shock and loss – the thousand-year stare – along with the empty helmets piled at his feet, invite the viewer to stop and contemplate with him the costs of war. In the return, the soldier rejoins the homecoming parade. One figure look back with pride, while a flag bearer leads the country forward into "the American century." Our soldier returns home and hands his helmet back to his daughter. She looks into the helmet and sees World War II, the war that will bring America back to Europe little more than 20 years later. Due to the size and complexity of the casting process, the sculpture will not be installed before 2024. Until then, artwork showing what the final product will look like will be in its place. The wall is surrounded by water and is viewed from a platform several feet in front of it.
18. PERSH_210416_105.JPG: At the center of the Belvedere is a large rendering of the front of the World War I Victory Medal centered upon the memorial floor. The medal depicts a winged Victory holding a shield and sword on the front, heralding the dawn of a new era of peace.
19. PERSH_210416_107.JPG: World War I Memorial You are standing in the National World War I Memorial. Before you is the American Expeditionary Forces Memorial, dedicated in 1981 to honor the American forces who served in Europe during the war and their commander, General John J. Pershing. In 2020 the memorial was expanded to honor not just the AEF but all Americans who served, including U.S. Navy sailors, Coast Guardsmen, men and women in uniform who did not serve in Europe, and those who served in civilian capacities. To your right across a pool of water is the sculpture A Soldier's Journey, based on the myth of "the hero's journey" and representing the American experience of World War I, as described in one of the adjacent panels. On the reverse of the sculpture wall is the Peace Fountain, a cascade of water flowing over lines form the poem "The Young Dead Soldiers." The poem, a call to remember those killed in war and give meaning to their sacrifice, is by Archibald MacLeish, an artery captain in the war who later won three Pulitzer Prizes and served as the Librarian of Congress. Interpretive panels along this wall describe American accomplishments in the war, the roles played by Americans of all backgrounds, and the legacy of the war. The center medallion depicts the figure of winged Victory portrayed on the medals awarded to members of the AEF and other Allied forces. Inscribed on the front of the wall are the names of the major campaigns for which Army and Navy units were awarded battle honors. The final element of the memorial is a pair of quotations inscribed on planter boxes farther to your right. One, from Willa Cather's 1922 novel One of Ours, is a testament to the achievements and sacrifices of American armed forces in the war. The other, from Alta May Andrews of the Army Nurse Corps, speaks of her own pride in having a chance to serve, and more broadly for the contributions of all Americans -- including women, African Americans, Native Americans, and immigrants -- to the American war effort. "We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning. We were young, they say. We have died. Remember us." -- Archibald MacLeish
20. PERSH_210416_117.JPG: World War I, 1914-1917 In the summer of 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ignited a continental war between the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire and the Allies of France, Great Britain, Russia, and Italy. By the war's end in 1918, the war would span the globe, claim more than 16 million lives, and change the world forever. Germany planned to quickly defeat the British and French to the west before turning its full force east to Russia, but its initial thrusts into Belgium and northern France were checked. By the end of 1914 four hundred miles of trench lines -- the Western Front -- stretched from Switzerland to the North Sea. Over the next three years, a series of bloody offensives failed to overcome the stalemate of trench warfare. In 1916 the Battle of the Somme lasted 140 days with more than a million casualties and moved the front lines six miles, while the German assault on Verdun yielded little gain at a cost of 700,000 dead and wounded. By 1917 both sides were nearing exhaustion. The United States initially remained neutral. But reports of German atrocities and submarine attacks on shipping bound for Britain and France -- most infamously the 1915 sinking of the Lusitania, which killed 128 Americans -- began to change American opinion. In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson won re-election on the slogan "He kept us out of war." But in April 1917, Germany's resumption of unrestricted submarine warfare, along with its offer to help Mexico recover territories lost to the Untied States in 1848, led Wilson to ask Congress to declare war on Germany. American entry came none too soon. The British were running out of men, almost half of the French army had mutinied, and the Russian Revolution in 1917 would lead to Russia's withdrawal from the war, allowing Germany to shift troops to the Western Front. Although the first American soldiers landed in France in June 1917, it would take a year to create, train, and equip an army and ship it across the Atlantic. The outcome of the war would turn on whether Germany could defeat Britain and France before the Americans arrived in force. "It is a fearful thing to lead this great peaceful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace." -- President Woodrow Wilson, April 2, 1917
21. PERSH_210416_123.JPG: The AEF in the Great War, 1917-1918 The first elements of the American Expeditionary Forces, under the command of General John J. Pershing, arrived in France in June 1917, but they lacked the numbers and training to the committed to combat. There was also debate over how the AEF would be deployed. The Allies argued for the piecemeal assignment of American units to British and French armies; Pershing was adamant that the AEF would field an independent army under American command. The situation changed in early 1918 when Germany launched its "Spring Offensive," intended to end the war before the Allies were reinforced by millions of Americans. At the peak of the crisis, Pershing relented and assigned American divisions to hard-pressed Allied armies. "Retreat, hell! We just got here!" -- Captain Lloyd Williams, U.S. Marine Corps, at Belleau Wood American troops conducted their first major action on May 28, 1918, when the 1st Division rolled back a German salient at Cantigny. Soon after, American forces were deployed along the Western Front, fighting in battles that have become part of American military lore. In early June the 2nd Division, including a brigade of U.S. Marines, drove German forces out of Belleau Wood after weeks of savage fighting. At Ch�teau-Thierry the 3rd Division won the name "Rock of the Marne" for its stand on the Marne River. More American forces joined Allied counterattacks in summer and fall 1918, fighting with British, Canadian, and Australian allies in Flanders and the Somme, and with the French at Soissons and across the Marne, Aisne, and Oise rivers. By September 1918, the AEF began independent operations and played a key role in the "Hundred Days Offensive," which ended the war. The Americans helped break the fortified Hindenburg Line at St. Quentin, and at St. Mihiel, half a million Americans and 100,000 French troops, supported by 1,500 Army Air Service aircraft, took back in four days territory the Germans had held for almost four years. On September 26 American forces launched the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, the largest battle in American history. Over 47 days, 1.2 million American troops drove the Germans back 40 miles to the vital railway hub of Sedan. More than 26,000 American soldiers died. The United States suffered 53,402 battle deaths in World War I, in less than six months of fighting. Another 63,114 died from accident and disease. After the Civil War and World War II, World War I is the deadliest war in American history.
22. PERSH_210416_134.JPG: Beyond the AEF The American Expeditionary Forces were the soldiers and marines who fought on the Western Front in France and Belgium. But many other Americans served in the war. While the United States initially remained neural, thousands of Americans crossed into Canada to join the British war effort; four American soldiers received the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest award for valor. Others served with the French Foreign Legion. Some Americans formed the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron of aviators flying with the French air force. Others organized field hospitals and ambulance services. "If I died, I want you to know that I have died as every man ought to die, fighting for what is right." -- Kiffin Rockwell, Lafayette Escadrille, February 17, 1916 Although the Army bore the brunt of the fighting, the Navy and Coast Guard made important contributions in tough and demanding missions. When America entered the war, German submarines were sinking one in every four ships that sailed from British ports. The Navy engaged German submarines off the east coast of the United States, along the Atlantic seaways to England, Ireland, and France, and in the Mediterranean. The Navy also laid an extensive "mine barrage" in the North Sea. In addition to hunting submarines, the Navy and Coast Guard escorted convoys of ships that carried troops and critical supplies to the front. Of the two million U.S. troops transported across the Atlantic, only 637 were lost to German submarines. This achievement cost the Navy 431 dead and 819 wounded, while the Coast Guard lost 121 men, proportionately the greatest loss of all the U.S. armed services. Some Army contingents fought in campaigns outside the Western Front. The 332nd Infantry Regiment serve in Italy, fighting alongside the Italian Army against against Austro-Hungarian forces in the Vittorio Veneto campaign. More than 13,000 American soldiers deployed to North Russia and Siberia between 1918 and 1920, as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian civil war. While the U.S. contingents mostly carried out defensive operations and guarded American property, American participation poisoned relations between the United States and the victorious communists, who formed the Soviet Union in 1922. "We recognize with feelings of gratitude the debt we owe the United States .... The close cooperation between our two services has … been one of the outstanding features of the war." -- Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss, Royal Navy, November 16, 1918
23. PERSH_210416_137.JPG: From Homefront to Battlefront When the United States declared war in April 1917, the U.S. Army had fewer than 130,000 men. By the end of the war, 4.7 million Americans would serve in the military, two million of them in Europe. While many Americans volunteered or were activated with National Guard units, most were draftees. The "doughboys," as all American soldiers were known, represented nearly every segment of America's population: Ivy League blue bloods and working-class laborers, country boys and city dwellers, grandsons of enslaved people and grandsons of Civil War veterans. Typical recruits trained for six months, then boarded trains to the East Coast and sailed for Europe. There they received additional training from combat-experienced British and French NCOs and officers before moving up to the front. On arrival in the war zone, American doughboys entered a war of unprecedented destruction. Armies fought on a scale never seen before, and the fighting included advanced new weaponry such as machine guns, tank, airplanes, and poison gas. Because of increases in range, explosive power, and rate of fire, artillery caused the most casualties. Many soldiers suffered "shell shock," known today as post-traumatic stress. Adding the more misery to a world devastated by war, a deadly influenza pandemic struck in 1918-1919. The virus traveled overseas with U.S. troops, and spread rapidly across Europe and the rest of the world. Tens of millions died, including some 50,000 doughboys and another 600,000 back home. The homefront was just as important in supporting Allied victory. For the first time, the scale of the conflict required the government to organize the economy for war. The War Industries Board set production standards and coordinated railroads and shipping. The National War Labor Board secured the cooperation of American workers by setting higher wages and an eight-hour workday. The government financed the war effort with war bonds and a new personal income tax. Gaining unity on the homefront required almost as much government attention. The Committee on Public Information produced articles, posters, pamphlets, movies, and speeches to promote the Allied cause. The government suppressed dissent, and passing the Espionage Act which gave the government broad powers to inspect mail and the Sedition Act which made it illegal to speak against the war. "Your soldiers were superb. They came to us young, enthusiastic, and carried forward by a vigorous idealism, and they marched to battle with admirable gallantry. Yes they were superb. There is no other word." -- French Marshal Ferdinand Foch, January 15, 1919
24. PERSH_210416_144.JPG: Americans All All segments of American society contributed to the war effort during World War I. Despite racism at home and in the military, more than 350,000 African Americans served in uniform. Black soldiers were segregated into separate units, and and while many were assigned menial support roles, the 92nd and 93rd Divisions saw active combat. The 93rd, fighting with the French army, spent more days in combat than any other American unit. The 92nd joined other American troops in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. Despite these heroics, African American veterans faced renewed prejudice and racial violence when they returned home, during the "Red Summer" of 1919 and after. "All blood runs red." -- Eugene Bullard, Lafayette Flying Corps Approximately 150,000 Latinos also served in the war, facing many of the same issues as African American soldiers. Women participated in the war effort on a wide scale. More than 200,000 women served in the Army Nurse Corps, 10,000 of them overseas. During the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, more than 200 nurses died treating sick troops. Four hundred "Hello Girls," fluent in French and English, served as telephone operators in the Army Signal Corps. An additional 11,000 women served in uniform for the first time in uniform for the first time in the Navy, while smaller numbers served in the Marine Corps and Coast Guard. Thousands more supported the troops overseas through volunteer organizations such as the Red Cross, YMCA, and Salvation Army. At home, women stepped in to keep the economy moving, working in such traditionally male jobs as factory workers, drivers, and technicians. The wartime contributions of women were critical to the war effort, as well as to the post-war success of the campaign for women's voting rights. Despite not having U.S. citizenship at the time, 6,500 Native Americans were drafted, while another 5,000 volunteered. Cherokee and Choctaw soldiers became the first "code talkers," transmitting military messages in languages the enemy could not decipher. Nearly 40 percent of U.S. soldiers were immigrants or children of immigrants. Despite concerns about the loyalty of these soldiers, the army moved quickly to integrate them, assigning them multilingual officers and providing classes in English, American history, and civics. "I fought with Catholics and Protestants, with Jews, Greeks, Italians, Poles, and Irish, as well as American-born boys in the World War. They were buddies of mine and I learned to love them." -- Sergeant Alvin York, U.S. Army
25. PERSH_210416_153.JPG: Armistice and Legacy As American troops moved through the Meuse-Argonne, it became apparent that Germany had lost the war. An armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, effective at 11:00 a.m. -- the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. In January 1919 the Allies met in Paris to negotiate the peace. President Wilson sought a peace based on his "Fourteen Points," meant to foster international peace and cooperation. While some of the terms were included in the final treaty, including creation of a League of Nations, the pre-war colonial system remained in place. The Allies also compelled Germany to accept responsibility for starting the war, give up territory and colonies, and pay crippling war reparations. The formal Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, but the U.S. Senate refused to ratify the treaty. World War I profoundly changed America and the world. The war ushered in the era of modern warfare; war was now waged in the air and under the sea, and new weapons and industrial capacity gave war an unprecedented scale and technological savagery. The harsh penalties imposed on Germany contributed to the rise of the Nazi party, while other terms created resentments in Italy and Japan, setting the stage for World War II. The 1917 communist revolution in Russia gave rise to the Soviet Union, and the U.S.-Soviet Cold War after World War II led to "hot" wars in Korea and Vietnam. The destruction of four empires -- the German, Russian, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman -- led to a new world map and new conflicts. The creation of arbitrary nation-states in the Middle East and the British mandate in Palestine created ethnic and religious tensions that remain current one hundred years later. But the aftermath of the war also saw the first attempt to establish international organizations to prevent war. While the League of Nations was ineffective, it led to the United Nations and greater international cooperation. By 1918, America was the world's strongest industrial power, and a leading player on the world state. Two million Americans had gone to Europe, and America now looked at the world with new eyes -- as, too, the world looked at America. "Their bodies return to dust but their work liveth for evermore. Let us strive on to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." -- From the Great Frieze at the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City
26. PERSH_210416_161.JPG: A Soldier's Journey This memorial's central sculpture, A Soldier's Journey, depicts scenes based on the archetypal myth of "the hero's journey," in which the hero embarks on a quest, wins victory in an epic struggle, and comes home changed by his passage through peril. The work depicts the journey of a recurring figure, an American soldier, and also represents the American experience of World War I. In the departure, the soldier's daughter hands him his helmet, while his wife touches him with a restraining arm, as if to hold him back as he answers the call to battle -- representing the debate over American involvement in the war. In the initiation, the soldier joins the parade to war, as the United States joins the epic battle in Europe. The parade, and the work as a whole, includes African Americans and other ethnic groups who answered their country's call. In the middle scene, the ordeal, the parade devolves into tension before the charge and then the tumult of desperate and violent combat. At the center our hero calls his comrades into battle, illustrating the famous American battle cry from Belleau Wood: "Come on, you sons of bitches, do you want to live forever?" The aftermath depict the physical and mental wounds of the fighters. Here are represented American women who served at home and on the fighting front. And here the turbulent, left-to-right narrative pauses, as the hero stops and looks directly at the viewer. The soldier's look of shock and loss -- the thousand-yard stare -- along with the empty helmets piled at his feet, invite the viewer to stop and contemplate with him the costs of war. In the return, the soldier rejoins the homecoming parade. One figure looks back with pride, while a flag-bearer leads the country forward into "the American century." Our soldier returns home and hands his helmet back to his daughter. She looks into the helmet and sees World War II, the war that will bring America back to Europe a little more than twenty years later. "you have seen many of your comrades make the supreme sacrifice that freedom may live.... Your deeds will live forever on the most glorious pages of America's history. -- General John J. Pershing, November 12, 1918
27. PERSH_210416_166.JPG: World War I Remembered When "the Great War" ended in 1918, the United States did not have a tradition of national war memorials. Most memorials honored veterans from the local community, such as the District of Columbia War Memorial on the National Mall. An exception was the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri, which honored all the nation's veterans of the war. Other World War I monument in Washington include the First and Second Division Memorials in President's Park. In 1923, Congress established the American Battle Monuments Commission to construct overseas monuments and memorials to the accomplishments of American armed forces in the war. ABMC erected monuments in France, Belgium, and Gibraltar, as well as memorial chapels at the eight American cemeteries in Europe. general Pershing was the commission's first chairman, serving until his death in 1948. Today, ABMC maintains 31 monuments, memorials, and markers in seventeen countries around the world, commemorating conflicts from the Mexican-American War to the Vietnam War as well as 23 World War I and II cemeteries in Europe, North Africa, and the Philippines. In 1966, Congress authorized ABMC to establish a memorial to General Pershing and the American Expeditionary Forces on this site. The memorial was designed by Wallace K. Harrison with a sculpture of General Pershing by Robert White. Dedicated in 1981, Pershing Park was not conceived at the time as a "national" war memorial. One year later the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on the National Mall, followed by the Korean War Veterans Memorial in 1995 and the World War II Memorial in 2004. In 2014, in conjunction with the centennial of World War I, Congress designated both Pershing Park and the Liberty Memorial as national World War I memorials, and authorized the World War I Centennial Commission to enhance Pershing Park to further honor all U.S. armed forces that served in the war, not just the AEF. Based on a competition-winning design by architect Joseph Weishaar and sculptor Sabin Howard, and building on the original park design by M. Paul Freidberg, the redeveloped park was re-opened in 2021. "In dedication of this memorial let us pledge our lives to God and country. May the devotion of those who answered the call of duty in the supreme crisis of war prove an abiding inspiration to loyalty and high endeavor." -- General John J. Pershing, at the site dedication of the Liberty Memorial, November 1, 1921
28. PERSH_210416_175.JPG: Funding for the National World War I Memorial provided by Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Starr Foundation Lilly Endowment Inc. Diana Davis Spencer Foundation Richard Lounsbery Foundation Carnegie Corporation of New York Fedex Corporation General Motors The J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Foundation National Football League Foundation Barbara and Andrew Taylor & Jo Ann Taylor Kindle & Crawford Taylor Foundation Walmart
29. PERSH_210416_184.JPG: "They were mortal, but they were unconquerable." -- Willa Cather
30. PERSH_210416_193.JPG: "If this world must become embroiled in a tremendous "war to end wars," I am glad that I, too, may play a part in it." -- Alta May Andrews
31. PERSH_210416_195.JPG: "Never before have men crossed the seas to a foreign land To fight for a cause which they did not pretend was peculiarly their own, But knew was the cause of humanity and of mankind." -- President Woodrow Wilson
32. PERSH_210416_212.JPG: "The Bex Eagle" Original Bronze by Lorenzo E. Ghiglieri -1980- Freedom's Symbol Free men must re-dedicate themselves to the cause of the freedom. They must understand with a new certainty of conviction that the new cause of freedom is the cause of the human individual. Human individuality is the basis of every value--spiritual, moral, intellectual, creative--in human life. Freedom is the right to one's soul; the right of each person to approach God in his own way and by his own means it is a man's right to possess his mind and conscience for himself. to those who put their trust in freedom, the state can have no sovereignty over the mind or soul-- must be the servant of man's reason, not the master.
33. PERSH_210416_215.JPG: The Bald Eagle Presented by the National Wildlife Federation and American Communications Network in commemoration of the Bicentennial of our Nation's Symbol 1782 - 1982
34. PERSH_210416_282.JPG: On 6 April 1917, the United States entered World War I. With few regular forces, the task of training and transporting an effective army to fight in France was formidable. The U.S. Navy, acting swiftly to combat the German submarine menace, dispatched fighting ships and aircraft to European waters. Simultaneously, it began the organization of convoys for hundreds of thousands of troops to undertake the tremendous work of organizing the American Expeditionary Forces. General Pershing landed in France on 13 June 1917. Beginning on 21 March 1918, the German armies launched a series of powerful attacks on the Western Front. On that date there were only 300,000 American soldiers in France, most of them but partially trained. The first offensive action by a U.S. Division came on 28 May when Cantigny was attacked and held despite violent enemy reaction. Simultaneously, the Germans surged across the Aisne River and advanced rapidly toward the Marne. U.S. reinforcements, hurriedly brought into positions directly across the German path of advance toward Paris, stopped the attack. Then, on 6 June, U.S. troops, including a brigade of Marines, struck back, and in fierce combat lasting a month, recaptured Belleau Wood and the town of Vaux. The last great German offensive of the war came on 15 July along the Marne, east of Chateau-Thierry. It was promptly repulsed in a severe struggle in which American troops played a leading part. The immediate U.S. - French counter attack on 18 July at Soissons marked the turning point of the war.
35. PERSH_210416_285.JPG: The Western Front
36. PERSH_210416_290.JPG: Thereupon, the U.S. First Army was organized as a separate and distinct American Army with its own assigned sector, as General Pershing had insisted from the beginning. Under his command, on 12 September, it assaulted the St. Mihiel salient which had withstood all attacks for 4 years. By 16 September, the salient was eliminated. Ten days later, the First Army launched the Meuse-Argonne offensive. Suddenly conceived, hurried in plan and preparation, and brilliantly executed, this battle, in which over 1,000,000 American soldiers fought, stands out as one of the greatest achievements in the history of American arms. During October also, U.S. troops had seized Blanc Mont Ridge; and General Pershing had organized the U.S. Second Army, which entered the line on the right of the First. On other battlefields, Americans serving with the British armies had attacked in August near Ypres, Belgium and had taken part in the Somme offensive. In September, near St. Quentin, they had broken through the Hindenburg Line. During October, their advance continued, and November saw U.S. units advancing further into Belgium. Elsewhere, Americans served with distinction in Italy, Northern Russia, and Siberia. During the war, the Air Service was expanded into a striking force which supported the ground troops and gave promise of the vital role that our air forces would play in the future. At the signing of the armistice on 11 November 1918, more than 2,000,000 Americans were serving in Europe, either with the combat forces or in the Services of Supply whose unheralded work made possible the brilliant achievements of the armies in the field.
37. PERSH_210416_292.JPG: The Meuse-Argonne Campaign
38. PERSH_210416_298.JPG: During September 1918, the Allied Forces launched a general offensive on the Western Front. In this operation, the U.S. First Army was assigned the task of breaking through the extremely strong and vital defensive system between the Meuse River and the Argonne Forest. The attack started on 26 September, and after two days of intense fighting, the dominating hill of Montfaugon was captured. The German troops stubbornly defended each position, but by 30 September had been driven back six miles. On 4 October, the assault was renewed. The resistance encountered was desperate, with the enemy rapidly pouring in more divisions from other battle fronts. Though subjected to furious counter attacks, the advance continued relentlessly. On the left flank, a brilliant attack in the Aire Valley made possible the capture of the Argonne Forest. On the right, U.S. and French troops crossed the Meuse where severe fighting ensued for possession of the heights beyond. Another assault on 14 October developed into a prolonged struggle against violent resistance; but these attacks, near Cunel and Romagne, broke through the German main line of defense and penetrated that line beyond the villages of St. Juvin and Grandpre. The last great offensive began on 1 November with the capture of the formidable position on Barricourt Heights. Three days later, the enemy was in full retreat west of the Meuse. Continuously pursued on both sides of the river, these successes and those of our allies compelled the Germans to ask for an immediate armistice which became effective 11 November 1918.
39. PERSH_210416_303.JPG: "In their devotion, their valor, and in the loyal fulfillment of their obligations, the officers and men of the American Expeditionary Forces have left a heritage of which those who follow may ever be proud." -- John J. Pershing
40. PERSH_210416_365.JPG: At the center of the Belvedere is a large rendering of the front of the World War I Victory Medal centered upon the memorial floor. The medal depicts a winged Victory holding a shield and sword on the front, heralding the dawn of a new era of peace.
41. PERSH_210416_383.JPG: Matthew Gilmore
42. PERSH_210416_458.JPG: 2021 World war I Centennial Commission American Battle Monuments Commission Joseph Weishaar * Designer Sabin Howard * Sculptor GWWO Architects * Architect of Record David Rubin Land Collective * Landscape Architect
43. PERSH_210416_476.JPG: The door to the maintenance section that takes care of the water in the memorial.
44. PERSH_210416_560.JPG: Skateboarders checking out the area to vandalize it with their skateboarding like they have with Freedom Plaza.
45. PERSH_210416_596.JPG: Evening lighting for the signs in the Belvedere.
46. PERSH_210416_693.JPG: Electric skateboards
47. PERSH_210417_002.JPG: "Whether our lives and our deaths were for peace and a new hope Or for nothing, we cannot say, it is you who must say this They say we leave you our deaths, give them their meaning We were young, they say, we have died, remember us." -- Archibald MacLeish
48. PERSH_210417_016.JPG: North Russia * Siberia The memorial acknowledges our invasion of Russia Siberian intervention From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Siberian intervention or Siberian expedition of 1918–1922 was the dispatch of troops of the Entente powers to the Russian Maritime Provinces as part of a larger effort by the western powers, Japan and China to support White Russian forces and the Czechoslovak Legion against Soviet Russia and its allies during the Russian Civil War. The Imperial Japanese Army continued to occupy Siberia even after other Allied forces withdrew in 1920. .
49. PERSH_210417_026.JPG: "They were mortal, but they were unconquerable." -- Willa Cather
50. PERSH_210417_032.JPG: Someone was photographing a picture of his ancestor inside the new memorial.
51. PERSH_210417_061.JPG: "If this world must become embroiled in a tremendous "war to end wars," I am glad that I, too, may play a part in it." -- Alta May Andrews
52. PERSH_210417_107.JPG: The kids were thanking the veteran for his service.
53. PERSH_210417_170.JPG: Skateboarders checking out the terrain of the next place they hope to vandalize with their skateboards.
54. PERSH_210417_186.JPG: I had explained to them the echo chamber observed if you stand on the statues hips and speak.
55. PERSH_210426_08.JPG: This temporary sign was new.
56. PERSH_210426_17.JPG: A Soldier's Journey In front of you is an illustration of the sculpture that will be installed in this space in 2024. "A Soldier's Journey" depicts a series of scenes based on the myth of "the hero's journey," in which a recurring figure of an American soldier embarks on a quest, wins victory in an epic struggle, and comes home changed by his passage through peril. The soldier also represents, on a second level, the American experience of World War I. This illustration shows the artistic process from initial sketch, to clay sculpture, to finished bronze. The sculpture is the work of Sabin Howard, who together with architect Joseph Weishaar won the competition to redesign Pershing Park as a national World War I memorial. Howard began by viewing thousands of photographs of the war. He then brought actors and models into his studio, where he posed them in scenes inspired by his research. Rather than putting them into static, artificial poses, he gave them stage directions to move through a scene, and then captured the motion in more than 12,000 photos. Howard then selected and assembled images into a series of tableaus. As Howard took new photos and revised the images, the story evolved. The process culminated in a six-foot-long scale model or "maquette" of the proposed sculpture. Once the maquette was approved, Howard re-shot every figure in a rig holding 160 high-speed digital cameras. Working with Pangolin Editions foundry and Steve Russell Studios, Howard generated 3-D computer images from the terabytes of digital data. Pangolin then created full-scale polyurethane versions of the images, which formed the armatures for the sculpture. This process, which took about 15 months to complete, would have taken six years using traditional methods. Howard then applied clay to the armatures and began sculpting the figures. As each of four sections is completed, it is cast in bronze. When all four sections have been cast, they will be re-assembled and shipped here for installation.
57. PERSH_210426_45.JPG: Sculptor Sabin Howard sculpts a maquette of "A Soldier's Journey."
58. PERSH_210426_49.JPG: Howard works on the clay sculpture that will ultimately be cast in bronze.
59. PERSH_210531_21.JPG: Memorial Day 2021 Join us on Memorial Day as we honor those who gave 'the last full measure of devotion' while serving in our armed forces. Additional information, including links to online ceremonies at the memorials, is online at go.nps.gov/MemorialDay2021
60. PERSH_210623_11.JPG: Maintenance work on the Pershing statue.
61. PERSH_210627_40.JPG: The water level was odd.
62. PERSH_210730_101.JPG: Commerce to Commemoration The Evolution of a City Block General John J. Pershing died in 1948. The troops he led to victory 30 years before in World War I wanted a memorial. Of the potential locations, the block that you are standing on was the most appealing. It was available and it was next to the most famous street in the nation's capital. Pennsylvania Avenue is the symbolic and physical connection between the Capitol and the White House. Early on, the street attracted stores, hotels, and theaters. But after 120 years, the federal government needed more space. Workers demolished many blocks of old buildings, including this one. Offices were built on the other side of Pennsylvania Ave but this block sat empty. By 1959, approvals and a design for a Pershing memorial were complete. The project only needed money. Then, John F. Kennedy rode up Pennsylvania Avenue during his 1961 Inauguration Day parade. He noticed that this area was run-down and reportedly told an aide to "fix it." Kennedy's request became a priority and the Pershing memorial went on hold while a larger plan was developed. The Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation dedicated Pershing Park in 1981. In the intervening years, planners had changed the purpose of this block from a memorial to a place for many activities. A tribute to the general, designed by Wallace Harrison, was included. The rest of the site was a modernist landscape designed by M. Paul Friedberg. Grassy hills secluded the park from the city. A sunken area became a pool in warm weather and a skating rink in cold. A kiosk rented skates and sold food. Seating at the park's edges gave people a place to eat their lunches or watch skaters. As the 2014-2018 centennial of World War I approached, Pershing's last living soldier, Frank Buckles, wanted a memorial to the war. Authorities again proposed and considered locations and selected this site. Congress passed a law in 2014 converting Pershing Park into the World War I memorial. 1846 Today this place is the World War I Memorial but it's first name was simply "block 226." 1875 The earliest structures on this block were theaters and row houses. 1939 This block existed as an immense traffic island for many years. 1981 Friedberg's Pershing Park in front of the Willard Hotel, undergoing expansion.
63. PERSH_210730_111.JPG: 1875 The earliest structures on this block were theaters and row houses.
64. PERSH_210730_114.JPG: 1939 This block existed as an immense traffic island for many years.
65. PERSH_210730_122.JPG: 1981 Friedberg's Pershing Park in front of the Willard Hotel, undergoing expansion.
66. PERSH_210906_14.JPG: S [Sabin] Howard
67. PERSH_210913_02.JPG: "Whether keeping lonely vigil in the trenches, or gallantly storming the enemy's stronghold; whether enduring monotonous drudgery at the rear, or sustaining the fighting line at the front, each has bravely and efficiently played his part... You inspired the war-torn allies with new life and turned the tide of the threatened defeat into overwhelming victory. -- General John Pershing [The letters hadn't held up very well from being under the fountain water.
AAA "Gem": AAA considers this location to be a "must see" point of interest. To see pictures of other areas that AAA considers to be Gems, click here.
Wikipedia Description: National World War I Memorial (Washington, D.C.)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The National World War I Memorial is a national memorial commemorating the service rendered by members of the United States Armed Forces in World War I. The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the World War I Centennial Commission to build the memorial in Pershing Park, located at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C. The park, which has existed since 1981, also contains the John J. Pershing General of the Armies commemorative work. In January 2016, the design commission selected the submission "The Weight of Sacrifice", by a team consisting of Joseph Weishaar, Sabin Howard, Phoebe Lickwar, and GWWO Architects, as the winning design, which is expected to be completed by 2024.

On April 16, 2021, the flag was raised at the memorial and President Biden spoke at a virtual ceremony opening it to the public.
Bigger photos? To save server space, the full-sized versions of these images have either not been loaded to the server or have been removed from the server. (Only some pages are loaded with full-sized images and those usually get removed after three months.) I still have them though. If you want me to email them to you, please send an email to guthrie.bruce@gmail.com and I can email them to you, or, depending on the number of images, just repost the page again will the full-sized images.
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