Six decades later, work on World War II memorial to begin

Daily Gate ^ | 12/8/2003 | JOHN O'CONNOR/Associated Press

[yonif]

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. -- For Tom Proctor, there could be no better day than Sunday to break ground for Illinois' memorial to the veterans of World War II.

Exactly 62 years earlier, Proctor was sitting down to breakfast at Pearl Harbor when his anti-aircraft weapons unit was called out. The Japanese had attacked, and America was suddenly fighting in World War II.

"All those men who were killed, and the men who received injuries on that day and are suffering from it, they've been forgotten, and damn it, I don't like that a bit," the Springfield resident said. "They say it's gone in the past and it won't happen again. The hell it won't happen again."

Proctor, 86, has been ill but hopes to be at Oak Ridge Cemetery as veterans symbolically start construction on the $1.5 million memorial that many consider long overdue.

"They didn't seek the accolades, they don't think they did anything out of the ordinary," said John Boeck, president of the memorial association. "When you look back, to the contrary, they did very much out of the ordinary and saw this country through one of the most tumultuous times it ever has seen."

The conflict drew 987,000 Illinoisans and killed 22,000 of them. Its worldwide grip will be reflected in the monument's design, a concrete globe with raised sections representing the earth's continents.

Stainless steel buttons on the map will mark the sites of major battles, with information about them engraved in nearby black granite walls.

"It will show the next few generations how much could have been lost, how much was gained for them by these sacrifices," said memorial association member Shirley Harris, whose husband, Walter, fought in the Battle of the Bulge under Gen. George Patton.

"I just can't imagine the sorrow that this land went through."

Construction won't begin until January, Boeck said, and organizers hope to dedicate it on Aug. 15, the 59th anniversary of V-J Day, the war's end.

The globe, 12 feet in diameter, will be made of seven inches of concrete with a hollow center, he said.

A "veterans plaza" will form the apron in front of the sphere with room for 3,700 paving stones engraved with veterans' names for a $300 donation. Non-veteran sponsors may purchase stones for a separate part of the memorial for $500 or more.

The bulk of the financing comes from state grants of $1.4 million and an expected federal grant. Boeck said private donations have totaled approximately $250,000.

Social studies students at Jefferson Middle School in Springfield are responsible for $5,000 of that during the past two-and-a-half years.

Sixth grade teacher Patty West said students have worked tirelessly with candy and snack sales and a "social studies-a-thon" in which students collected pledges for each correct answer they gave about the war in a contest.

"A lot of them know people in the current war," West said. "When they have a family member in Iraq, they realized what was going on it brought everything to life for them."

Proctor would be pleased to hear that. He said he hopes the memorial, above all, keeps the war's memory alive.

"There's a lot going into it, heart and soul going into it," he said. "My God, I hope they do remember."

[bobjam]

A WWII monument is long overdue for Washington; but I shudder to think of what would be designed these days. Instead of a landmark memorializing America's glorious victory over the forces of evil, the Washington libs will end up constructing some off the wall monument to modern art that demonstrates the evil of war and how little it accomplishes.

I would like to see a statue of a GI with his foot on tojo's throat and running a bayonet through hitler.

[yonif]

I'll be it will be very politically correct as well.

[yonif]

I'll be = I'll bet

[Freakazoid]

It's already started. Here's the scoop.

National World War II Memorial

[Freakazoid]

BTW, from what I know of it (I saw the beginning of the construction in the summer of 2002), it looks to be pretty good.

[archy]

Now that most of those who were actually involved are dead, those who profited by their sacrifice will proceed with building a monument to their own ideas of what the meaning of it should be, secure in their happy thought that the dead veterans are no longer in a position to complain about the perversion of their intent or ideals.

[beelzepug]

"It's already started. Here's the scoop."

Thanks for the info. I went right to the site and registered my Dad. He's been gone nearly forty years now, but typing his name in still got me all choked up. It looks pretty good up there on that website. I'm especially proud to have my name on the the line that says, "Honored by...", followed by "Son". Damn straight, Pop!
(I hope nobody comes by my desk for the next 10 or 15 minutes)

[oh8eleven]

... secure in their happy thought that the dead veterans are no longer in a position to complain about the perversion of their intent or ideals.

I also think it's important to remember that the majority of WWII vets, including my father & father-in-law (both now gone), never wanted a monument and that's why there never was one.

They went to war, saved the world from tyranny and just wanted to get on with their lives. God rest their souls.

[chickenlips]

It's a dignified and tasteful memorial in my opinion. It's well under construction and due to open on Memorial Day 2004, I think.

Some of the solid construction barriers have come down and now chain link fencing is up instead, so it is visable to the public, right now. At first I thought the location was a poor choice, but now as I pass the construction almost daily and see it taking form, I think the right decision was made to locate it there.

[chickenlips]

I just entered my dad's name in the registry. I had a few tears when I saw his name on my screen.

He was a great guy that I truly miss...even after 25 years.

[Travis McGee]

No doubt.

[archy]

I also think it's important to remember that the majority of WWII vets, including my father & father-in-law (both now gone), never wanted a monument and that's why there never was one.

They went to war, saved the world from tyranny and just wanted to get on with their lives. God rest their souls

My dad talked about the ones who he really held in awe, the Brits who'd been in the war for four years before he arrived in '43, the General he worked for who was the first USAAF general to be lost in combat, the guys who could have gone home after 25 missions, but stayed on toi do 50, then 75, then a hundred. He just wanted to get back home and resume his engineering studies.

It wasn't until I got to talk to some of the guys who'd elected him the Post Commander of our local American Legion Post and a couple of those who served with him who showed up for his funeral, that I found out his little secret. He was one of those who finished his 25 missions and stayed on to work with the Brits in unarmed photorecon planes, then after 50 more missions with them , stuck around as a Special Services entertainer- he was an accomplished Dixieland trombonist, and having done his part in fighting the war, stuck around to make conditions a little more bearable for those with whom he had worked.

-archy-/-

[oh8eleven]

Thanks for the pix.
Semper Fi...