Tucked away in a grove on the National Mall is a tattered ode to the 499 District of Columbia doughboys who perished in “The Great War” — a deteriorating temple often overlooked by visitors and locals alike.
Now 90 years after the Armistice Treaty ended World War I, there is a renewed campaign not only to restore the District’s monument, but also to expand it. Legislation introduced by Rep. Ted Poe, R-Texas, would recast it as the “National and District of Columbia World War I Memorial,” to honor the nearly 117,000 U.S. soldiers who died, 204,000 who were wounded and the millions more who fought in the war, which started in 1914.
Poe’s interest in the World War I Memorial, situated between the Korean and World War II memorials adjacent to the Reflecting Pool, was sparked soon after he joined Congress in 2005, he said Friday. As he jogged across the Mall he came across the virtually hidden D.C. monument, a Peristyle Doric Temple completed in 1931.
“I saw this monument over in the tall grass, in the weeds, and I went over and inspected it,” Poe said. “It’s in a bad state of repair and I thought that was an inappropriate way to honor the D.C. World War I veterans.”
His legislation calls for the full restoration of the existing memorial — a regular on the D.C. Preservation League’s annual most endangered list — and the addition of an “appropriate sculptural or other commemorative element” to take it national. Work would be completed prior to the armistice centennial in 2018.
Frank Buckles of Charles Town, W.Va., is the lone surviving U.S. veteran of the First World War. He is 107 years old.
“There’s no advocates, no soldiers left to come up here and march to try to get us something,” Poe said. “Frank Buckles is the only guy.”
Poe argues that, because his bill calls for an expansion of an existing memorial, it is exempt from a federal law barring additional construction on the Mall. Judy Scott Feldman, president of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall, disagreed.
“We support the preservation of it and the modest improvement of it,” Feldman said. “But making it larger, no. In our view, that would be contrary to the law.”
The fledgling World War I Memorial Foundation, led by former Preservation League President Edwin Fountain, will direct the planning, design and fundraising for the memorial effort. The grandson of two World War I veterans, Fountain said Friday it is simply wrong that every 20th century war but one is represented on the Mall with a national monument.
“I guess it offends my sense of symmetry,” he said.
