Site of national WWI Memorial prompts congressional dispute
By: Michael Neibauer
Examiner Staff Writer
July 5, 2009
A dispute is brewing between members of Congress over the appropriate location for the official United States World War I Memorial — the nation’s capital or Kansas City, Mo.
With only one World War I veteran still alive, 108-year-old Frank Buckles of West Virginia, and the war’s centennial fast approaching, the race is on to finally commemorate an official monument to the 117,000 American doughboys who died in the campaign.
But where?
On one side is Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, the sponsor of legislation designating the “overlooked” District of Columbia War Memorial on the National Mall as the national monument to fallen soldiers of the Great War. Poe’s bill calls for complete restoration of the D.C. memorial, a Doric temple dedicated in 1931 to Washington’s 499 dead, and the construction of an additional element on the site to make it nationally applicable.
On the other side is the entire Missouri delegation, which has filed bills in the House and Senate designating the Liberty Memorial in Kansas City as the country’s official monument to World War I dead.
“In some way, it’s tempting to think all important things need to be in Washington,” said Danny Rotert, spokesman for Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. “But at the same time, if they were to build the World War I monument in Washington right now, exactly one U.S. World War I veteran would be able to visit it. Our World War I memorial has been visited by hundreds of thousands of World War I vets and their families. We’re holding it up for them, those who had come before.”
But Poe has stood his ground.
The doughboys deserve the same honor as soldiers of all other major 20th century American conflicts — a monument on the National Mall, Poe said in a statement. They should not be denied, he said, “just because a small group of people feel they have the exclusive right to the memorial in Kansas City.”
“Maybe they would prefer that we post a sign on the Mall instead saying: Sorry, no WWI Memorial here; head 1,000 miles west to Missouri,” Poe said.
The 217-foot Liberty Memorial tower in Kansas City, dedicated in 1926 and designed with locally raised revenues, houses the congressionally designated official National World War I Museum. It’s inscription: “In Honor of Those Who Served in the World War in Defense of Liberty and Our Country.”
The National Park Service recently allocated $7.3 million for the restoration of the D.C. monument, located between the Korean and World War II memorials.
mneibauer@washingtonexaminer.com
