Battle of the Bulge Memorial - Arlington National Cemetery - 2013-08-24 : 無料・フリー素材/写真
Battle of the Bulge Memorial - Arlington National Cemetery - 2013-08-24 / Tim Evanson
| ライセンス | クリエイティブ・コモンズ 表示-継承 2.1 |
|---|---|
| 説明 | Face of the Battle of the Bulge Memorial in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, in the United States.The Battle of the Bulge was fought from December 16, 1944, to January 25, 1945. Nazi German military forces counter-attacked during harsh winter weather through the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, France and Luxembourg. The Americans and British were caught completely by surprise. Nazi forces sped westward, but the 101st Airborne Division held the critical crossroads at Bastogne -- preventing a breakout to the south. The 101st Airborne had its butt kicked by the Germans during Operation Market Garden, during which time it failed to secure a critical bridge and could not relieve British, Polish, and American troops at Arnhem and Nijmegen. It redeemed itself by holding Bastogne until General George Patton's 3d U.S. Army relieved them and broke the German advance.The memorial was the brainchild of the Association of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge, a veterans group organized in 1981. The organization had sponsored a "living memorial" -- a tree and plaque dedicated to veterans who fought in the battle -- in 1986. In December 2000, at the national AVBOB reunion in Washington, D.C., AVBOB national board member Stan Wojtusik sought out Arlington National Cemetery Superintendent John C. Metzler, Jr., and proposed a second memorial to Bulge veterans. Metzler rejected the proposal ostensibly on the grounds that only one memorial per event is permitted. (There are confusing and contradictory explanations of these events. The AVBOB claims their 1986 plaque was "deteriorating", but in fact it was not. Metzler's rationale for rejection does not make sense; in fact, federal law barred placement of new memorials at Arlington without congressional action. Metzler could never have approved anything on his own.)In March 2002, AVBOB President George Chekan, Wojtusik, and AVBOB board member Jack Hyland sought the help of Rep. Christopher Smith (R-NJ), chair of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. Smith introduced a congressional resolution supporting the creation of a memorial on June 27, 2002. Passage of the bill was stunningly easy: The Veterans Benefits Act of 2002, enacted into law on December 6, 2002, authorized the placement of this memorial.By August 2004, however, the AVBOB was openly discussing NOT putting the memorial at Arlington National Cemetery. A number of other military units had secured highways or much more public memorial space, and there was a question as to whether the AVBOB should do so as well rather than seek out a spot at ANC. The AVBOB executive board listened to testimony from its Staten Island chapter about its experiences raising a memorial. A memorial committee -- consisting of Wojtusik, John Dunleavy, and Bill Greenville -- was established to oversee the memorial process. It's unclear whether the committee considered any other site besides Arlington National Cemetery. But it quickly met with Metzler again, indicating that it had settled on Arlington as the location for the memorial. Metzler offered a site next to the Rough Riders monument at the western tip of Section 21. There was concern that this spot was too isolated, but Dunleavy argued that it had to be accepted. A good memorial, he said, would draw visitors.The committee also had thee tentative designs for a memorial by August 2004. How it solicited them, who chose the designers, whether other designers were solicited, how many designs were submitted, whether the competition was open or closed, and other factors and processes of the design selection process are unclear.It's also unclear what fund-raising campaign was undertaken for the memorial. No fundraising campaign was undertaken in the "Bulge Bugle", the AVBOB's newsletter. Whether corporate support was sought is also unclear. What is known as that in late summer 2005, the AVBOB announced that the governments of Belgium and Luxembourg had agreed to donate $40,000 each toward the construction of the memorial. It's not certain whether any of the three original designs for a memorial were modified, rejected, or used in their entirety once it was known that only $80,000 would be on hand to fund a memorial.Four designs were submtited for comment at the 2005 reunion of the AVBOB in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The designs were submitted by Mark Hambleu, North Mississippi Stone and Memorial; Solon Granite Works of Solon, Ohio; Tony Moody, AVBOB Long Island, New York Chapter; and Charles DeChristopher Bros. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The debate over the memorial was contentious. The membership voted to approve the design submitted by Charles DeChristopher Bros. The first runner-up was the design by Tony Moody, followed by second runner-up Solon Granite Works, and third runner-up Mark Hambleu. That DeChristopher Bros. won was perhaps not a surprise. The company had designed Battle of the Bulge memorials in Hyannis, Massachusetts; Fort Monmouth; Fort Meade; Indian Town Gap; and the Valley Forge Military Academy.Granite Industries of Vermont was selected as the contractor to provide the stone and fabrication.DeChristopher's winning design consisted of a polished light grey granite memorial nine feet wide, six feet high, and two feet deep. The upright slab was flanked by two free-standing Grecian-ish columns without capitals. Engraved at the top of the slab was the image of an eagle clutching laurel branches. The AVBOB logo would be carved into a black granite circle, which would be inserted into the front of the slab beneath the eagle. The black granite would be impregnated with pigments (using a laser process) so it could be in full color. Below the logo would be inscribed "To World War II American soldiers who fought in the greatest land battle in the history of the United States Army in the Ardennes, December 16, 1944 to January 25, 1945, in appreciation by the grateful people of the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg." Black pigment would be embedded in the surface of the lettering. (It's not clear when the inscription was decided upon, who came up with the wording, or who approved it. But the AVBOB reported it in its newsletter of February 2006, which probably went to print around the time that the first CFA meeting occurred.)On January 19, 2006, Wojtusik, designer Charles DeChristopher, and Granite Industries president Jeff Martell met with the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (CFA) to seek approval of the design. The CFA, although generally positive about the design, disapproved it. The colored logo was too prominent and flashy for Arlington; the design was too post-modern, and needed to follow more rigorously the rules of Neoclassical architecture; the memorial was too tall and wide, and would block sight-lines; the logo was too prominent, as it was not a military insignia and ahistorical; that entasis be applied to the columns to correct the optical illusion of concavity in the columns; that capitals be added to the columns (possibly Doric); that the position of the lettering needed to be studied further; and that carving rather than inlay be used in the lettering. There was also a feeling that the black granite insert might come loose, or that the pins and epoxy-glued joints of the memorial might come apart over the next few decades. The AVBOB group was encouraged to stick to a more solid design, one that carved from granite rather than assembled from granite. It was architect and preservationist John Belle who suggested that the columns either be joined to the center panel or doubled at the ends, with the center panel disengaged from the entablature.Within days, DeChristopher and Martel redesigned the memorial, relying heavily on Belle's suggestions and scaling it down.On February 15, 2006, Wojtusik, DeChristopher, and Martell met again with the CFA. Their new memorial was just 5.75 feet high and 7.5 feet wide. Two Doric columns supported a plain entablature with blank pediment. On a base was a plain, rectangular stone with a black incised border near the edge. The AVBOB logo was at the top of the stone, with "December 16, 1944" to the left and "January 25, 1945" to the right. Below the logo were the words "To World War II American soldiers who fought in the Battle of the Bulge -- greatest land battle in the history of the United States Army". On the base, in large black capital letters, were the words "Triumph of Courage". The base of the entire monument was rough below but smooth above. On the monument base were the words "From the grateful people of the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg". A photographic mock-up of the memorial was presented, complete with a carving of the AVBOB logo in granite done by DeChristopher. Martell presented three samples of granite finish for the CFA's consideration. The revised concept was unanimously and enthusiastically approved.Fabrication of the memorial took less than a month.On May 8, 2006 -- the 61st anniversary of the liberation of Europe -- the Battle of the Bulge Memorial was dedicated. Attending the ceremony were His Excellency Guy Verhofstadt, Prime Minister of Belgium, and His Excellency Octavie Modert, Secretary of State for Culture for Luxembourg. Accompanying more than 300 veterans of the Battle of the Bulge were Lt. Gen. N. Ross Thompson (USA, ret.); R. James Nicholson, Secretary for Veterans Affairs; and Brig. Gen. Dany E. Van De Ven, the Defense, Military, Naval and Air Attaché of the Embassy of Belgium. |
| 撮影日 | 2013-08-24 09:20:08 |
| 撮影者 | Tim Evanson , Cleveland Heights, Ohio, USA |
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| カメラ | NIKON D7100 , NIKON CORPORATION |
| 露出 | 0.005 sec (1/200) |
| 開放F値 | f/7.1 |
| 焦点距離 | 24 mm |