Veterans of the "Great War" deserve better

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

STEVE JANOSKI

Americans have never been too good at remembering our history. From the condos that decorate some of the Civil War's major battlefields to the callous disregard given to historic buildings that lie in the way of "progress," we've always been a nation that's looked more toward the future than the past.

Although that philosophy might be part of the reason that we've risen (as a country) to the heights we have in a relatively short period, there are also certain instances where this can lead to neglecting portions of our past that should have been honored more appropriately.

Unfortunately, when Corporal Frank Buckles passed away on Feb. 27, we lost our chance to show the last American veteran of World War I that our neglect was in fact a mistake, and that we would fix it as soon as we could by making a monument to those who fought in what is becoming a forgotten war.

World War I is abstract in the minds of many — a long-ago war fought on European soil that that is permanently overshadowed in the pages of the history books by its much larger sister war, fought just 21 years later.

The people who fought in it, though, were real people — like my great-grandfather who, although he died long before I was born, was part of the artillery corps in France.

When I look at the rolls of his regiment or the yellowed letters he sent home from the European front, that war becomes tangible — no longer dry pages in a history book, but something that really happened, that somebody had to live through.

The war, however, was always real for Buckles. He had gone to France as an ambulance driver at just 16 years-old, and saw first hand the devastation that the "War to end all wars" wreaked on men.

Before his death, Buckles had been a proponent of creating a national monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., and was the honorary chairman of the World War I Memorial Foundation.

Edwin Fountain, who sits on the board of directors for the Foundation, said that although a memorial exists in Washington to the "Great War," when it was originally dedicated in 1931, it was only meant to commemorate the 499 residents of that city who became casualties — not for the plethora of other Americans who died in the green fields of France.

Over time, as other war monuments were erected to honor the following wars of the 20th century, the WWI monument was neglected, and fell into disrepair — a terrible sin that has disrespected every one of the 5 million men who served in the war, and the 116,000 who never saw home again because of it.

Buckles called not only for the restoration of the D.C. monument, but also that it be rededicated as a national memorial. As the last members of the "Lost Generation" began to pass into history, he finally got some attention,

In 2009, he spoke to lawmakers in Congress about the need for a memorial — at the time, he was 108 — and for once, Congress listened.

Since then, Fountain said, about $7 million in stimulus money was secured in order to restore the monument in a way that will be tastefully done.

"We don't want to detract at all from the existing monument, because it's very peaceful, and it's been tucked off in the trees," he said. "It has a very different feel than the other (monuments.)"

"We want to add statues that will give it a national component, but would still be deferential to the original (purpose)," he said.

Restoration is currently underway, but Fountain said that only half the mission is completed, as the site still must be rededicated to recognize it as a national memorial.

Legislation is slowly making its way through Congress that would accomplish this, and Senate Bill No. 253 is a bipartisan effort that would authorize the establishment of this national memorial.

In the House of Representatives, the act is called, appropriately, the Frank Buckles WWI Memorial Act.

Fountain asks that citizens call their senators and congressmen and ask that they support the bill, which would finally give these brave men the posthumous honors that they all deserved to see with their own eyes.

I have to agree with him… it's only 93 years late.

Email: janoski@northjersey.com

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