This article came across my desk today and I thought I would share this with you.

Theo

 Best Practice Recommendations for Cleaning Government-Issued Marble Headstones (2011-17)POSTED BY MARY STRIEGEL ON JULY 21, 2011 · IN CEMETERY CONSERVATION, MATERIALS CONSERVATION, PRODUCT CATALOG

Jason Church demonstrates the proper technique for cleaning a marble headstone using a biocidal cleaner, water, and a soft bristle brush.

In 2004, the Department of Veteran Affairs National Cemetery Administration turned to NCPTT when it wanted advice on chemical cleaners for their marble headstones. This began and partnership and extensive research on the subject of commercially available cleaners for removing biological growth and general soiling from marble headstones.

This week, NCPTT's Mary Striegel reported the results of the six-year VA-funded study to Steve Muro, the VA Under Secretary for Memorial Affairs, and a variety of National Cemetery Administration officials. Based on NCPTT research, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs will implement new policies that ban bleach-containing cleaners and encourage the use of gentle biocidal cleaners for regular maintenance of more than three million headstones nationwide. The results of the study led NCPTT to develop a document on the best practice for cleaning government-issued marble headstones, which can be downloaded here.

The main recommendations include the following:

1. Cleaning should be undertaken with the mildest, least-abrasive method.
2. A biocidal cleaner performed the best in this study. Recommended biocidal cleaners include D/2 Biological Solution (which was tested in this study) manufactured by Sunshine Makers, Enviro Klean® BioWash®, or other cleaners that contain quaternary ammonium compounds.
3. Soak the stone liberally with water before applying the cleaner with a hand or backpack sprayer or garden hose.
4. Always keep the stone wet during cleaning and thoroughly rinse afterwards.
5. Agitate the surface gently in a circular motion using a soft bristle brush. Clean small areas from the bottom up.
6. Remember to rinse after cleaning each area and to thoroughly rinse the stone at the end to make sure that no cleaner is left behind.

The research which led to these recommendations included field and laboratory studies that cut across disciplines from chemistry and biology to materials science and conservation treatment development. There were two main goals of the study. The first goal was to find effective commercial cleaners that removed soiling and microorganisms which alter the appearance and degrade headstones. The second goal was to look at factors that led to the re-growth of microorganisms on the stone.

NCPTT researchers studied five different cleaners which can be easily applied in the field. The cleaners needed to be effective in improving the appearance of the headstone and do no harm to the marble. In the field, NCPTT evaluated cleaners on stones located at five different climates and in both sunny and shady environments. Microbiologists at Harvard's School of Engineering and Applied Sciences evaluated the microorganisms originally on the stone including bacteria, fungi, and algae. They helped to follow the re-growth on the headstones after cleaning over an eighteen-month time period. Additionally, they conducted accelerated laboratory tests using fungi to distinguish between the best field performing cleaners.

The full and final report is available here.

You can still enter - but the window closes Monday 1/15

This is the final reminder that grant applications can still be submitted for the 100 Cities / 100 Memorial matching grant challenge. 

Here are the Cliff notes:

• ​The project needs to be at least in key part about a WWI memorial - though the memorial can also involve other aspects and wars.
• The project needs to be in the 50 united states or in the US territories
  
• The project needs to have been or be completed after January 1, 2014
  
  

There are of course other rules and regulation. Here are handy links to resources that will help you sort through it all quickly 
Overview for submission: https://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/2016-07-06-00-52-42.html
The actual submittal portal: https://worldwar1centennial.submittable.com/submit/59586/matching-grant-round-2
Competition manual - online and download: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/competition-manual.html
Resources to make it easier: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/resources.html#downloads

Based on requests from submitters, the program has decided to lift the compliance requirement that 100 Cities / 100 Memorial project must be completed by November 11, 2018.

With many new project coming into the grant application process, and although most projects are aiming to be completed by this Novembe, a number of project have expressed concerns that their work will not be finished by the Armistice Centennial.

After reviewing the requests, and considering the argument presented that the Centennial of WWI does not end on Armistice Day, the program management has decided to lift that compliance requirement. Projects simply need to have been completed after January 1, 2014

A update to the competition manual has been posted.

26 days left to update or submit your grant application

​There are just around 26 days left before the Round #2 submission deadline. Round #2 closes at midnight EST on January 15, 2018 (which is also MLK day!).

For anyone who was in ROUND #1 but did not receive a grant award, you are automatically entered in Round #2 and you do not have to pay a new entry fee in order to update your proposal. 

We recommend that you go to the submittal portal, review and consider updating your documents.

Things to consider in your grant application

Things we learned in Round #1 and want to share with you to help you make a more competitive application:

​​​​Every one of these projects is wonderful and deserving of an award
Most everyone submits compliant applications - and if they are not - we actually review them and give you a chance to make them right - so the mechanics of the submission are hard work, but not the thing that will differentiate your project.
Remember that the proposals will be reviewed by a jury. They are looking at many proposals from all over the country - and as stated above, every one of them is deserving of a grant award. 

So ask yourself the following questions and answer them in the "Creative Narrative of your submission. Don't forget, you are trying to stand out and convince the jury that your project should be selected.

Q1: What makes our projects unique and special?

Q2: How does our project connect into the community and raise local, regional or national awareness about WWI and those who served?

Q3: Who all is involved in the project - Is here a broad coalition?

Resources for your application

We have resources and some templates for you to help you get your application done. Click the button below to go to a resources download section. 

Contact us for help or with questions

By JENNIFER McDERMOTT Oct. 11, 2017 

World War I's neglected monuments getting spruced up

 NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) — A World War I monument in Rhode Island no longer bears the names of soldiers who died fighting; the bronze plaques were stolen decades ago. A statue of a WWI soldier in New York City has a dented helmet and missing rifle. The wooden rifle stack on top of a monument in Washington state has rotted away. Trees memorializing soldiers from Worcester, Massachusetts, have died.

The 100th anniversary this year of America's involvement in the "Great War" has drawn attention to the state of the monuments to its soldiers and galvanized efforts to fix them.

Many were forgotten about over time, or no one took responsibility for their care. Some were looked after, but they're in need of repairs, too, after being outside for so long.

"There are some cases of vandalism, but in general it has been time and a lack of maintenance and really nobody paying much attention," said Theo Mayer, program manager for the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission's 100 Cities/100 Memorials program . "Somehow the war slipped into our historic unconscious, and so did the memorials."

The centennial commission and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library in Chicago are helping communities that are restoring and rescuing their memorials. Fifty matching grants of up to $2,000 each were awarded in late September. They're accepting applications for another 50 grants, to be awarded in April.

The nation owes it to WWI veterans, "lest we forget," said Kenneth Clarke, president and CEO of the military museum.

"They can't speak for themselves. There's none of them left. It's up to us to carry this legacy forward," said Clarke. "That's a responsibility we have as citizens of this great country."

The first group of grant recipients includes a project to replace the plaques in Newport, Rhode Island; repairs to the World War Memorial in Raymond, Washington, and to the Highbridge Doughboy statue in New York City; and tree plantings and restoration work for Memorial Grove at Green Hill Park in Worcester.

The plaques were stolen from the Miantonomi Memorial Park Tower in Newport nearly 40 years ago.

"Why hasn't anyone replaced them? I don't know. Apathy? I just don't understand," said Bob Cornett, who's working with the city on the project.

The Washington memorial, tucked in the corner of a park, was becoming an eyesore because of the missing top and paint peeling off the pillar, said Army veteran Gordon Aleshire. Now it has been recoated, a bronze rifle stack has been made and it's being moved next to another war memorial.

"We were embarrassed over it," said Aleshire, coordinator of the project. "The VFW thought the city was going to take care of it, and the city thought the VFW was going to take care of it, and no one did. Now we'll have a plan to make sure we won't let it get into such disrepair in the future."

The Highbridge Doughboy was erected in the Bronx in 1923. It was later vandalized and moved into storage in the 1970s. It's currently on display in Central Park. It will be relocated to a park near Yankee Stadium when it is cleaned and fixed. The grant will help the city's parks department replicate the main dedication plaque.

In Worcester, an American Legion post planted maples to honor those who died in WWI, dedicating it in 1928. The post later closed, and about half of the trees have died. The Green Hill Park Coalition is working with the city to restore the grove.

The first 50 memorials selected are in 28 states. The Victory Memorial in Chicago, also known as Victory Monument, commemorates the 370th Infantry Regiment, an all-black unit that served with French soldiers. It has been well cared for. Local residents are going to plant a memorial garden and teach high school students more about the war. A poppy garden is being planted at North Carolina State University's Memorial Bell Tower, as well.

The projects that received grants must be completed by the centennial of the war's end, Nov. 11, 2018. The centennial commission is building the National WWI Memorial in Washington, D.C.

First Awards to be announced early.

We are happy to announce that we have moved up the date for announcing our first Awardees.

The original date for announcement was scheduled for November 11, 2017. Instead we will be making a major announcement on September 27th, 2017. We will be publishing a blog post right after the official press announcement.

Project Profiles on WW1 Centennial News Podcast

 We have been producing 100 Cities / 100 Memorial project profiles every week on our podcast. We invite you to check them out. The project profiles are always listed in the "Highlights" section with the 00:00 time you'll find them in the show. Check out the podcast archive at ww1cc.org/cn 

Some of the projects we have profiled recently include:

• ​100C/100M with Jim Yocum in Santa Monica CA
• 100C/100M with Joel Mize in Mussel Shoals, AL 
• 100C/100M with John Motley in Fort Towsen, OK
• 100C/100M​ with Anne Taylor & Ruth Edmonson Johnson in Jackson CA
• 100C/100M​ with Neil Urban in Phoenix, AZ
• 100C/100M​ with Cammie Israel in Mobile AL

and more... Take a listen to learn details on each of these great efforts.

If you have submitted a project for a matching grant and you have not contacted us about getting on the show for an interview, please contact Katherine.Akey@worldwar1centennial.org, the show's line producer and get yourself booked to tell the world about your great project!

At the end of World War I, thousands of war memorials of every size were built in local communities across the country.

Over the decades, exposure to the elements, neglect and even vandalism has befallen these national heritage treasures. We must act now – to restore both their physical beauty and our awareness of the men and women they memorialize.

To help motivate and support this restoration, the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program launched on July 15, 2016 with $200,000 in initial funding for a national matching grant challenge. The funds were provided by the World War One Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library.

On July 15, 2017 the grant application period ended and all submission were received. This began a simple compliance process where co-program managers, Susan Mennenga for the PMML and Theo Mayer for the WW1CC reviewed each submission to ensure each contained all of the required components and elements outlined in the competition manual. For example, each qualifying project needed to have identified the owner of the memorial and received a written authorization from the owner to do the restoration or conservation. Other requirement include a plan with a scope, a budget and a schedule.

To evaluate the individual submissions an austere Review Committee has been assembled, each of whom are assigned a group of submissions to read, review and rate based on common evaluation rubric. The Review Committee will then make a recommendation to the program leadership on awarding that project a matching grant. Once completed in Mid-August, the entire Review Committee will meet so that all committee members have chance to be introduced to all the proposed projects.

We are very proud to present the following members on the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials Review Committee

• US WWI Centennial Commissioner John Monahan - American Legion National Finance Commission and Treasurer of the American Legion Charities, Inc.
• US WWI Commissioner Dr. Matthew Naylor - President and CEO of the the National World War I Museum and Memorial in Kansas City
• CPT Lynn W. Rolf III - Director of Programs at Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW)
• Joseph Weishaar - Architect in training and winning designer for the National WWI Memorial at Pershing Park in Washington DC
• Eugene P. Hough - Executive Director of Saving Hallowed Ground
• Dr. Mark Levitch - art historian at the National Gallery of Art, and founder/president of the World War I Memorial Inventory Project
• Michael Knapp - Chief of Historical Services at the American Battle Monuments Commission
• Donna L. Crisp - National Vice Chair, Commemorative Events, World War One Centennial/Treaty of Versailles for the Daughter of the American Revolution

We want to thank this austere group who have volunteered their precious time to help us review and evaluate the submissions.

But most of all we want to thank those who have undertaken these projects.

We acknowledge that participating in this program has required a lot of time, effort and dedication from each submitting team. The scope, quality, variety, and most of all the deeply held commitment that these submitting teams have demonstrated is wonderful and as you review them often humbling. We want to thank and congratulate every submitting team on the amazing projects that they have presented us with. 

20 June 2017

SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED FOR $200,000 GIVEAWAY TO RESCUE AILING WWI MEMORIALS

WASHINGTON, DC: Great news - The 100 CITIES/100 MEMORIALS matching grant program has extended their submission deadline. The giveaway will now accept preservation project matching grant applications until July 10th, 2017. 

100 CITIES/100 MEMORIALS provides matching-funds for those who adopt & preserve local World War I memorials in their community. The grant program is managed by the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission in Washington DC, and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library in Chicago. 100 Cities / 100 Memorials offers award grants for up to 100 local projects around the country. Details are here ww1cc.org/100Memorials .

"The deadline was extended for a simple reason", Kenneth Clarke, President and CEO of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library explained. "We are in touch with a number of people who needed just a little more time to get their package in. We don't want to tell them "No", or say "Your World War I preservation project is not important to us. Those projects are absolutely important to us". 

Dan Dayton, Executive Director of the US WWI Centennial Commission, agreed. "This program is for local communities, to honor their local veterans. We want to be as inclusive as we possibly can. This program offers an opportunity for people across the country to meaningfully participate in the national World War I Centennial". 

100 Cities / 100 Memorials has drawn a great enthusiasm since it launched in July of 2016. The American Legion has endorsed it, at their national level, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars also became a supporting partner. The program has also yielded a great number of grant applicants. "Dozens, and dozens" Said Kenneth Clarke. "We are thrilled".

Dayton added "This deadline-extension opens the door for a few more project teams. If you had a local World War I memorial project underway, but missed the deadline, we want to hear about it! Fill out the form, and send it to us". 

For more information about the program go to ww1cc.org/100Memorials . 

Information on the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission can be found at www.ww1cc.org

Information about the Pritzker Military Museum and Library can be found at www.pritzkermilitary.org/WW1

Congratulations if you submitted a matching grant application!
Here is what happens next:

There is a very good guide to key dates on the website under
"Project Flow and Schedules"

1. Compliance Confirmation: We will be going through all the submissions to confirm that they are compliant with the program rules. IMPORTANT: If we find something that you forgot to submit or missed, we will contact you directly and you will have 10 days to resolve the issue. There is no "gotcha" intended. We want to help you succeed.

2. Publish all project: We are targeting to get this done by July 15th when we intend to publish all the submissions on the national WW1CC website.

3. Promote all project: We will start to promote ALL the submissions and project during the entire evaluation period. We want to give all your project some exposure through the 100C/100M blog, the website, our newsletter and our Podcast. This will go on through the whole summer and into the fall.

The grant awards will be announced on November 11, 1917.

Again - Thank you for participating and congratulations on you many fine projects. Check out the WW1 Poppy Program as a fund-raising activity. 

We will be contacting all the teams to help you tell the world about your project. Some of the stories we have already heard are AMAZING.

There are three new 100 cities / 100 Memorials project worth noting: 

1. From California, the Santa Monica Open Air Theater Memorial Bronze Plaque being submitted by the Sons of American Legion Squadron 283 from the Pacific Palisades. The open air memorial theater at Santa Monica High School is dedicated to the soldiers "Who gave their lives for world liberty". The memorial was dedicated May 30, 1921 and is being refurbished to honor them.

2. From Tennessee's Madison County, To recognize the sacrifice of the men of Madison County who died in the war, the Surgical Dressings Workers of Jackson erected a Memorial Fountain on the Courthouse Square after the war. The date of the installation is unknown. Presumably it happened between 1919 and 1925, which was when the Jackson McClaran Chapter of the Red Cross closed. Originally, the fountain was topped by a sculpture representing an eternal flame or an urn, and it was located against the sidewalk in the northeast quadrant of City Court square. Today, the the column is topped by a flat a metal plaque.

3. From Pennsylvania's Montour County, when their WW1 Soldiers returned, the residents spared no expense in welcoming them home. Contributions of nearly $10,000 (in 1919 dollars) we donated by private citizens and a 4 day welcoming celebration was held in Danville. A granite tablet hols a bronze plaque on each of its four sides inscribe with the names of those who served - not just those who died honoring their community's service to the war.

Important Reminder

We want to remind you, especially if you are planning a project, that you need to submit your grant application before June 15, 2017. The submission instructions are here.

Volunteers Needed to help us implement the Memorial Hunters Club 

The 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program also includes the creation of a National Register of WW1 Memorials under the Memorial Hunter's Club. 

This program not only solicits public engagement in a crowdsource effort to find, identify, record and submit all WW1 Memorials in the USA, but it also seeks to gather the memorial lists from other existing resources including state, county and municipal organizations, historical societies, and institutes of learning that my have existing registers, Today, there is no comprehensive national register of this fading cultural American heritage and the Centennial of WW1 may be our last, best chance to compile this disappearing information. 

The public has responded and we are receiving many submission. Memorial Hunters - We love you!!!

In fact, the response to the program has outstripped our internal resources to manage and post all the results quickly.

This is why we are looking for a small team of volunteer. We need a few volunteers with some web or technology experience that we will train to verify, clean up the submissions, and post the memorials submitted to our national map system. We need some additional volunteers to solicit participation by local communities, schools, church groups, historical societies at the state, county and municipal levels, local veterans organizations, scout troop, universities and others, 

This work will archive the results for future generations to reference. We will put the results into the public domain for any individual, organization or institution to access, download and do with as they please. 

For example, if someone would like to make a wonderful mobile App, this will provide the foundation. If someone would like to travel the country and make 3D, 360 holographic records of the memorials, the core research will have been done. If a local community would like to post a small map of WW1 memorials on their regional web site, the will have a foundation to work from.

The project remembers our heritage, honors our veterans and creates a resource for future generations. And we need to do it NOW while there is national attention on WW1. If helping in this endeavor interests you, please contact theo.mayer@worldwar1centennial.org

You are sure to learn a lot, and have a worthwhile and enriching experience.

Kind regards

Theo
Program Manager
100 Cities / 100 Memorials
For the US World War One Centennial Commission

The grant application period is coming to a close. If you have a WW1 Memorial project, it is time to get the applications submitted. In order to help you prepare, a number of people have asked for a .pdf copy of the grant application itself to help them prepare their submittal.

We have posted that PDF in the Resources section of the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials web site.

Access it directly here, print out a copy and use it as a reference in preparing the application.

Our director of Communications, Chris Isleib, sent me a link to this article. It tells the story of a citizen in Cape May County who wants to refurbish the local WW1 memorial to commemorate the sacrifice of the local veterans who served a century ago.

HELP US CONNECT WITH THESE GOOD FOLKS AND GREAT PROJECTS.

We have $200,000 in matching grants available for project just like this... and there are less than 100 days left to submit grant applications via the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials Website.

We have resources, and a national spotlight for these projects, but we need your help to get the word out.

Thank you!

Theo Mayer & Susan Mennenga Program Managers: 100 Cities / 100 Memorials

By Al Campbell

Posted: Friday, March 10, 2017 12:03 pm | Updated: 12:10 pm, Fri Mar 10, 2017.

By Vince Conti

This is Kevin Fitzpatrick's excellent post about the WW1 memorial restoration project on Governors Island, NY that he is spearheading.

Last summer I started work on a project that is small in scope but means a lot to me. Today I submitted the final grant application information to the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission for what I am calling the Governors Island World War I Memorial Project.

Last year when my book The Governors Island Explorer's Guide was published I was not done with the island, which is by far my favorite park in the city. I started work on my next book, World War I New York: A Guide to the City's Enduring Ties to the Great War, which comes out in about a month. I wrote a section on Governors Island, since it was so important during WWI. And as anyone who has been to Governors Island can tell you, it has a lot of bronze plaques. Some needed replacing and renovation, which is where my project started.

I met with the Trust for Governors Island, which manages the island and preserves its history. I spoke to the National Park Service, which oversees 22 acres of the National Monument. I led a site inspection by my friends from New Jersey, Peaceable Kingdom Memorials, to visit the memorials and estimate the scope of the project.

Now that the grant application is complete and the restoration and renovation can commence, here is the full outline of the project:

New York City has untold numbers of monuments and memorials spread out across its five boroughs, from the large Grant's Tomb to the modest Balto statue. There is one public park that has the highest concentration of World War I memorials in the city: Governors Island. A military base for two hundred years, the island roads are named for soldiers killed in the Great War and there are more than twenty bronze tablets dotting its 172 acres. For the centennial of the war, this project is to restore and replace three of these tablets: two for soldiers killed in hand-to-hand combat, and one for General John J. Pershing.

Governors Island, located in New York Harbor 800 yards from Manhattan, is one of the most unique parks in the United States. In 1966 the U.S. Army left Fort Jay after tenancy that stretched back to 1800; then the U.S. Coast Guard took over the post and operated for thirty more years. In 1996 the USCG closed the base. In 2003 the U.S. turned the island back over to the people of New York. Today Governors Island functions as both a city-funded public park, and the Governors Island National Monument, twenty-two acres administered by the National Park Service ("The NPS") since 2001. In 2016 more than 500,000 visited Governors Island, which is only open from May to September.

On Governors Island is the National Historic District, with forts, buildings, and monuments that have been designated national and state historic landmarks. It is in the boundaries of the Historic District that the majority of the WWI monuments were left by the U.S. Army. The Historic District, except for the acreage controlled by the NPS, is managed and maintained by the Trust for Governors Island ("The Trust"), a city agency that is part of the City of New York. The mandate of the Trust is to preserve and protect the historic elements dating back to the post-Colonial era left in its care.

The scope of the Governors Island World War One Memorial Project is to support the Trust by replacing two WWI memorials that have gone missing, and to restore one memorial that was damaged by a vehicle. These bronze tablets will be replaced and restored with the support and approval of the Trust.

The research, project management, and funding is being provided by Kevin C. Fitzpatrick. He is an author of two books on Governors Island history, a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve veteran, and professional project manager. The restoration and replacement of the memorials is contracted to Peaceable Kingdom Memorials of Neptune City, New Jersey; the owner's grandfather was a WWI veteran stationed at Fort Jay as the island's tailor.

About the Memorials

There are three components to the project. They are named:
1. Private Hay
2. Captain Kimmell
3. General Pershing

The three memorials share these characteristics:
* Cast bronze tablets
* Measure 12 inches x 8 inches
* Dedicated by the U.S. First Army (formerly headquartered on Governors Island)
* Included on numerous online databases for U.S. monuments

It is important to replace these memorials to honor the men who served our country. The boulders that the memorials were once attached to are still in their original location and condition. This cuts the cost of the project because three bases for the memorials do not need to be brought to the island. The importance of the project is that with these three missing memorials, the inventory of Governors Island World War One locations has three holes in it, places that should be filled in time for the centennial. Each of the service members was unique in his own way with a story worth remembering and honoring; currently there are only three large boulders with empty places on them.

Why Governors Island? Why a WWI project? One of the hallmarks of the government of Flanders for the centennial of the Great War is what it calls "peace tourism." To quote:

The centennial of World War I can be the impetus to make Governors Island a new destination for commemorative and peace tourism. Just like battlefield tours, cemetery visits, and national monument tourism, Governors Island could be termed the best World War I collection of memorials in New York. While it does not have a Doughboy statue–there are fifteen spread around the city–it does have more memorials for more people than any other location (excluding cemeteries).

Governors Island also has the added historical ties of the first military action in the war: On the night of April 6, 1917, minutes after the U.S. Congress declared war, soldiers from Fort Jay boarded Coast Guard and Army tugs and seized all of the German ships in the harbor. These vessels, were converted to troopships, such as USS Leviathan, to carry Doughboys to France. Governors Island was an important training post, center of General Leonard Wood's preparedness movement, and a vital supply depot during the war. While many other locations in New York that played a part in WWI have been lost to development or time, Governors Island exists in a kind of time warp, appearing almost exactly as it was left by the Army in 1966. By adding Governors Island to the list of international WWI memorials, perhaps it will draw some of the 50 million annual visitors to New York to the island.

History and Background About the Memorials

The memorials share certain characterics that tie to First Army and are historic in nature. In 1928, for the tenth anniversary of the Armistice, the Sixteenth Infantry Regiment, headquartered at Fort Jay, set out on an ambitious memorial project of its own. The regiment named every major road for fallen members from its ranks, including the first three American Doughboys killed together in 1917 in France. One of these was Private Hay, who has a damaged memorial. The regiment named the docks, piers, and scenic locations for battles and engagements, such as Meuse-Argonne Point and Soissons Dock. General Pershing, who sailed for France from Governors Island, had a tree memorial dedicated on the centennial of his birth in 1960. That memorial is now missing, while the oak tree thrives.

This is an overview of the three memorials, their history, and their current status.

Private Hay (restoration) – Hay Road (1928)
GPS Location: 40.690909, -74.018651

In 1928 the 16th Infantry named this road in honor of Private Hay. A memorial bronze plaque was affixed to a boulder on the roadway post-World War II. At some point in the last five years, a vehicle struck, damaged, and knocked the memorial off its base. The Trust has the damaged tablet in its care. This memorial will be sent out for restoration and refurbishment. It will then be returned to Governors Island and replaced to its original location on Hay Road. The Hay memorial will also be used as a template for the other two missing plaques.

Captain Kimmell (replacement) – Kimmell Road (1928)
GPS Location: 40.690130, -74.012458
37 Kimmel Road, Brooklyn, NY 11231

The scenic island perimeter Kimmell Road begins at Pier 101 and runs along the water facing Red Hook, Brooklyn. It terminates at Yankee Landing. This road was dedicated in 1928 to honor Captain Harry Lispenard Kimmell, Jr., Company C, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division. Captain Kimmell was born in 1895 in the District of Columbia, the son of Commander Harry L. Kimmell, Sr., an instructor at the U.S. Naval Academy. He was an appointed a midshipman in July 1914 but withdrew and joined the Army after the U.S. entered the war. Captain Kimmell earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on July 19, 1918, south of Soissons, when his company was halted by machine-gun fire. He led a platoon through a heavy barrage and captured a German machine-gun nest, forcing them to surrender. His gallantry enabled the entire battalion to continue the advance. He won a second Distinguished Service Cross posthumously. He led two platoons of his company against a strongly held enemy position in the Argonne Forest. He fell mortally wounded while leading the advance, but other members of his command, inspired by his gallantry, successfully assaulted the enemy position. Captain Kimmell was killed in action near Fleville, France, on Oct. 9, 1918. Captain Kimmell was 22 years old when he died and was posthumously promoted to major. His remains were interred in Argonne American Cemetery; in 1921 they were buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 3, Grave 4089.

In 1928 the 16th Infantry named this road in honor of Captain Kimmell. A memorial bronze plaque was affixed to a boulder on the roadway post-World War II. At some point in the last two years the memorial has gone missing. A replica of the plaque, using older photos, will be created. It will then be returned to Governors Island and replaced to its original location on Kimmell Road. [Note: the original plaque had Captain Kimmell's surname misspelled and incorrect date of death; these will be corrected on the replacement memorial plaque.]

A tree memorial is a living memorial. Nobody knows the history of tree memorials, but the practice gained an immense following after World War One. In the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island, thousands of tree memorials were dedicated to service members following the war. Regimental Grove in Central Park still exists and a few tree memorials remain nearby the Brooklyn Public Library. On Governors Island one tree memorial stands for General of the Armies, John J. Pershing, within sight of the dock he departed the U.S. in 1917 to lead the American Expeditionary Forces. The oak stands in front of Pershing Hall, built in 1934, and once the home of First Army. From this building the Army planned Operation Overlord in World War II.

In 1935, upon his 75th birthday, every French battlefield town liberated by the A.E.F. held oak tree planting ceremonies in General Pershing's honor. It was international news when the commander in chief went back to Saint Mihiel for the tree planting. In remarks, he said that America would defend France again, "They were services we would be ready to give again if circumstances warranted." Twenty-five years later the centennial of General Pershing's birth was 13 September 1960. President Eisenhower proclaimed September 13 as General of the Armies John J. Pershing Centennial Day. The President called for "appropriate ceremonies designed to commemorate the life and accomplishments" of the general on the centennial of his birth in Laclede, Missouri. New York State followed suit, with a similar proclamation from Governor Nelson Rockefeller made in Albany.

The Army held a grand ceremony while planting an oak sapling tree memorial on Governors Island. Today the oak is massive, and towers perhaps 100 feet. While the A.E.F. commander has a square named in his honor on Forty-second Street in Manhattan, this 1960 tree memorial is the only living memorial for him in the city.

At some point in the last three years the bronze plaque has gone missing. A replica of the plaque, using older photos, will be created. It will then be returned to Governors Island and replaced at its original location next to the Pershing Oak.

Project Leads for Restoration

Project Leader: Kevin C. Fitzpatrick
New York, New York
Mr. Fitzpatrick has been visiting Governors Island since it opened to the public in 2003. He began leading walking tours there in 2010. Mr. Fitzpatrick is the author of The Governors Island Explorer's Guide (Globe Pequot Press, 2016) and World War One New York: A Guide to the City's Enduring Ties to the Great War (Globe Pequot Press, 2017). Both detail locations on Governors Island from WWI. He has written and edited five other books and is a licensed NYC sightseeing guide. Mr. Fitzpatrick has been a project manager for more than 20 years, and has worked on the staffs of MTV, the New York Times, Time Warner Cable, Pearson, and HarperCollins.

Restoration Leader: Peaceable Kingdom Memorials, Inc.
Neptune City, New Jersey
Peaceable Kingdom Memorials was established on the Jersey Shore in 1995 by Beth Duze Woolley. She had fifteen years experience in the monument industry before launching the business. Among the many memorials and monuments the company has created: National Historic Landmark plaques for the National Park Service, plaques at Monmouth Battleground State Park, the Church of the Presidents in Long Branch, President U.S. Grant memorial in Long Branch, and New Jersey's first monument to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The company has also worked on historic cemetery conservation and restoration in a dozen burial grounds in New Jersey (full list available). The company works with many regional history groups, including the Long Branch Historical Association, on local tablets and memorials. Ms. Woolley's paternal grandparents lived on Governors Island (in a tent) during World War I when her grandfather was the post tailor.

Bronze Casting Work: Matthews Bronze
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Matthews International Corporation traces its roots back to 1850 in southwestern Pennsylvania. It is an international leader in the memorial product business and has clients around the world. In 1927 Matthews pioneered the flush bronze memorial tablet, which revolutionized the cemetery industry. For more than twenty years, Matthews has been manufacturing the cast bronze inductee plaques for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown. Two of the company's most famous bronze memorials are for United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 2001, and the Elvis Presley gravesite memorial at Graceland in Memphis.

Timing and Rededication

The restoration work will take place in the spring and summer 2017. The installation will be in early September 2017. The rededication will take place for all three memorials during Governors Island World War I History Weekend, Sept. 16-17, 2017. 

The event is free and open to the public.

Brown County Texas has submitted their grant application to 100 Cities / 100 Memorials. Here is a profile on their project from their submission:

Restoring the World War I Memorial Brown County Texas

Very few if any American Legion Posts have done as much to restore, preserve, and improve their World War I Memorials as American Legion Post 196 in Brownwood, Texas. Our local World War I Memorial was placed at Brownwood High School in 1921. Funds were raised for the memorial by the Brownwood High School Class of 1921. Brownwood High School opened in 1917 and closed in 1961 when a new high school was built across town.

The World War I Memorial was located behind a bush, and most people had forgotten about it. With the help of the Central Texas Veterans' Memorial committee, the original World War I Memorial was moved from its old location to a new Central Texas Veterans' Memorial location in the 36th Division Memorial Park in Brownwood.

The World War I Memorial that honors those who served, fought, and died in World War I was weathered, aged, and forgotten. This was a sacred memorial to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War I, the Great War, the War to End All Wars. Most people have forgotten the shared sacrifice that united our country in World War I. In 19 months of war from April 6, 1917 to November 11, 1918, our country of 92 million people suffered 117,465 total fatalities of which 53,402 were combat deaths. Additionally, there were 204,002 wounded. Many countries in the world sustained a "lost generation". Many soldiers knew they had a "rendezvous with death". The book "Miracle at Belleau Wood" by Axelrod should be required reading for every American.

We moved our old World War I Memorial to its new site in 2016. The new memorial site included the old World War I Memorial along with a new granite tablet with the names of the 39 Brown County veterans who died in World War I, a new plaque with the wording from the old World War I Memorial that had become difficult to read, and another new plaque telling about the original World War I Memorial. The cost just for the World War I portion of the memorial was approximately $12,000. The profound words on the original World War I Memorial were these:

To those men from Brown County
Who rendered valiant service in the world war;
Who feared not;
Who believed in the sacred principles
Upon which this republic is founded;
Who preferred death to slavery;
Who signified a willingness to give their lives
And to perpetuate democracy;
This monument is reverently dedicated.

The new Central Texas Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 2016. The podium for the dedication was placed in front of the old World War I Memorial. United States Congressman Mike Conaway was our guest speaker. The memorial was dedicated at exactly 11:00 AM on November 11, 2016.

The Central Texas Veterans' Memorial honors all Veterans, but especially the 259 Veterans from Brown County who made the ultimate sacrifice from World War I forward. There were 39 fatalities in World War I, 198 in World War II, 8 in the Korean War, 11 in the Vietnam War, and 3 after September 11, 2001. The memorial consists of 12 granite tablets around a 75 foot diameter concrete circle. 

They honor the 259 local heroes; Fighting 36th Infantry Division-Texas National Guard-that trained here in World War II; Camp Bowie-Brownwood Texas; Major General Fred Walker-commanding general of the 36th Division in World War II and representing all officers from Brown County; Commando Charles Kelly-The One Man Army-the first recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor in Europe in World War II and representing all enlisted men from Brown County - especially those who returned from all wars with PTSD; the Lost 36th Division Battalion in the Vosges Mountains of France; the Lost 36th Division Battalion on Java; and Colonel Jack Bradley who was Brownwood's most decorated combat veteran. We moved the old World War II Memorial from across town to this new site. We also have plaques honoring veterans from the Korean War, Vietnam War, Persian Gulf War, Operation Enduring Freedom - Afghanistan, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. 

Additionally, we have a concrete walking trail just under 1/2 mile long with a handicapped water fountain and benches for people to sit and rest. There is a handicapped accessible sidewalk leading to the VA Clinic and to Brownwood Regional Medical Center with blacktopped parking and multiple van accessible handicapped parking spaces. There is an area for Veterans' Memorial Bricks which includes bricks with the names of many local veterans.

American Legion Post 196 is very proud to have been vitally involved with the restoration, preservation, modernization, and memorialization of the original World War I Memorial and the new Central Texas Veterans' Memorial in Brownwood, Texas.

Get YOUR 100C/100M project submitted early so we can proudly present it to the world!

Here are three great questions that have come up recently:

I'll paraphrase the questions

Question from Donna:

Our preliminary project budget breakdown is estimated at $3000 in
materials and $4000 in labor. If we can get local firms, and professionals
to donate some or all of the time and materials needed to
execute the project, can that in-kind donation count as part of the match for the program?

Donna

Since it is not specified in the competition manual, we met with the program executive committee and got a ruling on this one, . Here is the answer.

Answer:

YES, in-kind donations by a business or supplier can be considered for the match however: 

1. The rate or cost of the in-kind donation is at a standard, commercial and competitive rate they would charge for that service if it were paid for. 

2. The company provides a letter declaring the service and it's commercial value. 

3. They provide an invoice for the service with a line item of the donation that zeroes it out. 

It would however exclude volunteer labor.. IE if a group of legionnaires come out and help you do gardening, you can't just throw a value on that and submit it to the match.

Question from James:

I just ran into this site by a bit of happenstance. Any chance the Commission might accept late submissions. Our city's Eagle Memorial is in dire need of rehabilitation. Thanks!

James

Answer:

The submission period for grant applications is open until June 15, 2017 and the project needs to be scheduled for completion by November 11, 2018 - so I think you should be in good shape. 

Question from Mathew:

Our Central School District is working on a monument project involving a bronze tablet that was cast in 1919 with the names of men who died in service from the central towns in our county. The tablet was mounted on the front wall of the county courthouse and remained there until the local American Legion post relocated, to which they took the tablet with them.
Over the last 100 years, the tablet has had many homes but due to recent arrangements was in storage. Students with the school are attempting to raise money and awareness to establish a local monument for WWI veterans using that tablet.
As far as I know, as county historian, we have no memorial dedicated solely to WWI veterans. Would this project be eligible for a grant?

Mathew

Answer:

YES, provided that the project is slated to be completed prior to 11/11/2018. 

Your project accomplished all the goals we are after: 

• Restoring and preserving the honor to the vets, 
• Creating a community awareness of the community's connection to WW1 and 
• Teaching the next generation about that. 

I am not on the jury so I have no sway - however,  I just want to say: Thank you! 

Additionally, if you get a preliminary grant application done and submitted , we can promote the project on the US WW1 Commission's website, giving your project visibility, credibility and some sway with local funding sources. You can updated your submission after all the way until the submission deadline on June 15th, 2017.

We will post more questions as they come up in these final months before the grant application deadline on June 15, 2017. Thank you all for your interest and incredible dedication in getting these wonderful projects going!

135 days left to submit a matching grant applications

As of the last day of January, there are only 135 days left to submit matching grant proposals for the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program. You can get $2,000 for your local WW1 Memorial - even if you are a municipality or city office.

135 days (a little over 4 months) is still plenty of time, but there is no time left to waste to apply for the grants. Here is the short and easy recipe for cooking up a submission.

Recipe for success:

Ingredient: 

1 memorial in need of assistance 

1-3 Partnerships such as an American Legion or VFW post or DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) chapter. 

1.5 cup of city / county / parks / university permission and support 

1 Lb of Project planning 

1/2 Lb of project budget 

50 dollars for the submission fee

Preparation:

Start by connecting with your local American Legion, VFW post and/or DAR chapters. 

1. These organizations probably had a hand in the original memorial and know where they are. 

2. The American Legion and VFW are both officially supporting the program at the national and regional level 

3. They are all deeply committed to honoring our veterans and their sacrifice. They will help.

Next, get to the city or municipality or party that owns or manages the memorial. 

1. You need to get permission to do the project, but remember: 

2. You are coming to them with very compelling offer 

a. You are doing a community project they don't need to pay for or manage 

b. You can offer national exposure of your local community heritage via the WW1 Centennial Committee and this program 

c. You will be fostering a local sense of community (which these projects invariably do) 

d. You are creating a new focal point for veteran events and celebrations for years to come

Now, assess the scale, scope and ambition of your project... They are ALL valid. 

Is it simply some groundskeeping and landscaping? 

Is it a full conservation or restoration project of the memorial itself that will employ professional conservators? 

Is it a lighting project for the memorial that the city can cooperate with you on? 

Is it a phase of a bigger plan and this is just the launch? 

These are all valid approaches that have come up in the program.

Finally, write it all up with the permissions, plan and budget and get it submitted with your $50 before June 15, 2017.

NOTE: You have all the way until November 11, 2018 to actually complete the project.

Contact us if you need help.

Program Managers:

For the World War One Centennial Commission: Theo Mayer

For the Pritzer Military Museum & Library: Susan Mennenga

Preface:

This is the last installment of Laura Macaluso's three part series on the Timothy Ahearn Memorial. Laura generously provided the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials Blog with these very insightful and comprehensive articles. We want to thank her for sharing her knowledge, her experience and her insights with a community looking at WW1 memorials and their significance to our national heritage. On behalf of all our reader... Thank you Laura!

Theo Mayer & Susan Mennenga: 100 Cities / 100 Memorials Program Managers

Part 3

Cover, New Haven in World War I, Laura A. Macaluso, The History Press, forthcoming April 2017. The Timothy Ahearn Memorial is seen at the lower left corner.

What I hope these blog posts have shown is that the research and documentation around a single monument or memorial is a multi-layered affair. 

Although much had been done already to bring the Ahearn Memorial's backstory to light, there were surprises still to come. When I started researching the book New Haven in World War I I did a wide survey of all of the library and museum collections in the city and beyond, looking for material from which to write the book.

I knew that World War I monuments and memorials would be an end chapter to the manuscript, but, was more concerned with producing the chapters with which I had far less familiarity: what was happening on the home front, for example, or the development of Camp Yale, where the 102nd Regiment of the 26th Division was formed and trained and where the famous mascot of the Great War—Sergeant Stubby—first made his appearance (Stubby was a New Haven street dog and wore a harness with a small metal tag stating "New Haven, Conn. to France, 1917-1919").

But, learning what private individuals and families still hold regarding World War I material is close to impossible—unless there is a mechanism for bringing together descendants and their materials with scholars, researchers and writers. Fortunately, that turned out to the case in the State of Connecticut, thanks to the efforts of Christine Pittsley, a project manager with the State Library who initiated the Connecticut in World War I: Sharing History/ Preserving Memories program, which visits areas around the state digitizing material in private collections. 

Christine helped to identify New Haven-related material, including objects owned by a man named John T. Dillon, who came to a digitization event in North Haven. At the time, I was excited to learn that Dillon's father, also named John T. Dillon, was a New Havener and member of the 102nd Regiment and that he had kept his father's World War I materials, but I did not put two and two together until later: John T. Dillon's name was on the back of the Timothy Ahearn Memorial. He was, in fact, the chairman of the monument committee.

And, there was more.

Members of Maples Athletic Club, 1916. Courtesy of John T. Dillon, Esq. Six of the young men shown here became members of Company C of the 102nd Regiment, 26th “Yankee” Division: (top row) Jim Quinn (second from left), Harold Shields (third from left), Timothy Ahearn (fourth from left), Jim Coleman (fifth from right) and Jack Dillon (fourth from right). In the front row, Ed Stockpole (second from left) also served in Company C. Courtesy of John T. Dillon, Esq.

From John T. Dillon's son—a lawyer whose house stands close to the Guilford Green, about fifteen miles away from where his father lived in Fair Haven, the Irish section of New Haven—I learned that his father, and likely many like him, did not talk about their war experiences at home. Some of the fortunate ones, such as his father, went on to marriage and family, and full-time jobs.

Other, like Timothy Ahearn, were not so lucky. When Ahearn returned to New Haven he found his job at the Marlin Firearms factory gone, and he began the last phase of his young life as a migrant agricultural worker, dying from heart failure in California in 1925. But, before the war, these two young men—about twenty-one years old—lived and worked together in the same neighborhood, and likely went to the same Catholic church and school. Most importantly Dillon and Ahearn played football and baseball together at the Maples Athletic Club, a neighborhood club on the west side of the Quinnipiac River.

Dillon kept a photograph of his Maples A.C. buddies, which shows us just how closely connected doughboys could be in World War I: six young men from the Maples became members of Company C of the 102^nd Regiment, Yankee Division. Company C, along with the decimated Companies D and E, fought together at Seicheprey on April 20, 1918. Neither Dillon nor Ahearn were hurt here, but seventeen other New Haveners died, many were wounded and some taken prisoner, making it—as far as I know—the deadliest day in Elm City war history.

John Dillon's caretaking of his father's materials provided a precious window into the life of a doughboy from New Haven. His hob nail boots, Brodie helmet, awards, and most of all his war diary, kept in a small pocket sized calendar with wonderfully legible handwriting (Dillon was a bookkeeper for the Knights of Columbus before the war), helped my research immensely. But, in terms of the Timothy Ahearn Memorial, Dillon post-war life as an active member of the New Haven Chapter of the Yankee Division Veterans Association contributed to how New Haven constructed meaning around World War I and created a legacy for themselves and the city.

Veterans attended dinners, marched in parades, attended funerals and erected monuments and memorials. (Image 3.4) In 1921, the Adjutant General of the Army's office of the War Department officially designated Dillon a representative of the "Burial of the Unknown Dead" at Arlington National Cemetery, which may have encouraged Dillon, in the following decade, to become chairman of the Timothy Ahearn Memorial committee.

The choice of Ahearn as the subject of the 102^nd Regiment's monument is an interesting one, considering that although more than 250 New Haveners died in the Great War, 17 of them together on April 20, 1918 at Seicheprey, somewhere along the way the group decided that Ahearn was the soldier they would remember. Perhaps chapter members remembered him more clearly due to their neighborhood ties (four members of the Maples A.C. including Dillon, were on the memorial committee), or maybe they recognized—when there was not yet a full understanding of post-traumatic stress disorder—that the war claimed victims long after armistice in 1918.

Their choice was sanctioned by Yankee Division retired general Clarence Edwards, who said that Ahearn's contributions "best exemplify the spirit of the Yankee Division." Ahearn received the Distinguished Service Cross, the Croix de Guerre and the Italian War Cross for his heroism at Verdun in October 1918 and thus the monument recognizes him as an individual, but also as a model for the whole division (not unlike Stubby, who was first mascot of the 102^nd Regiment, but became recognized by the 26^th Division as a whole).

John T. “Jack” Dillon, leading the New Haven Chapter, Yankee Division Veterans Association in a parade, unknown year/ Courtesy of John T. Dillon, Esq. (top row) Jim Quinn (second from left), Harold Shields (third from left), Timothy Ahearn (fourth from left), Jim Coleman (fifth from right) and Jack Dillon (fourth from right). In the front row, Ed Stockpole (second from left) also served in Company C. Courtesy of John T. Dillon, Esq.

In the 1937 program for Seicheprey Day—the 19^th Annual Observance on April 20—Dillon asked veterans and friends to "Buy A Timmy Ahearn Tag" which were small pen and ink drawings of Lang's monument sold by the Women's Auxiliary, YD Post 130, American Legion, and "wives, sisters and sweethearts of the members of the New Haven Chapter, YDVA and friends and neighbors of the late Timothy Ahearn." The Seicheprey Day program shows just how large these yearly events were; a street parade beginning at 2:30 PM included tanks and planes flying overhead, memorial exercises on the Green, a banquet at the Hotel Garde with toasts at 6 PM, and finally, everyone went to the State Armory at 9 PM for the "Timmy Ahearn Memorial Benefit Vaudeville Show" with Elsie Janis the "sweetheart of the AEF." Janis came to New Haven from her home in Beverly Hills to help raise money for the Ahearn Memorial and she received only her expenses. Their fundraising efforts were clearly successful, as the monument was installed in time for Armistice Day on November 11, 1937.

The last object kept by John Dillon of his father's war service and post-war years as an active veteran is the most wonderful of all: a three minute, 24-second home movie taken of the parade and dedication ceremony of the Timothy Ahearn Memorial. John Dillon (junior) appears as a little boy in a coat and hat—his father was likely marching in the parade, as he always did and he appears at the 2.58 mark speaking at the monument itself 

The Timothy Ahearn Memorial went on to be a focal point of memorialization for veterans in the Elm City; according to the New Haven Register, "each year members of the Maples A.C. join with the Yankee Division Veterans Association and gather to pay tribute to Ahern after the regular Veterans' Day services on the New Haven Green." And, from another article in the New Haven Journal-Courier, it is noted that in 1942 Dillon's daughter Marie helped to unveil the city's next and last World War I Memorial: the 102^nd Regiment, Yankee Division plaque, installed close to the field where Camp Yale housed members of the 1^st and 2^nd Connecticut National Guard, which became the 102^nd Regiment in August of 1917. 

Dillon remained active with the YDVA till his death in 1977; the last gatherings of World War I veterans in the state happened in the early 1980s.

102nd Regiment, 26th “Yankee” Division Plaque, installed by Maxwell & Pagano, Derby Avenue, August 10, 1942. Photograph by William Sacco. (top row) Jim Quinn (second from left), Harold Shields (third from left), Timothy Ahearn (fourth from left), Jim Coleman (fifth from right) and Jack Dillon (fourth from right). In the front row, Ed Stockpole (second from left) also served in Company C. Courtesy of John T. Dillon, Esq.

​ Excavating the backstory of the Timothy Ahearn Memorial was a great learning experience. Although, putting together pieces and parts from multiple sources is a challenge, you don't really know what is out there until you look—and ask. People working outside of the practice of public history are often surprised that someone is interested in seemingly mundane or personal objects, such as an old pair of shoes, a photograph or a home movie. But, as we've seen, such objects help to illuminate a past that seems very far away.Some monuments and memorials will not have such extensive backstories—but you may be surprised. No matter what you turn up in your own monument's "search and rescue" project, each contribution supports the larger story of the United States in World War I and the ways in which different communities constructed their war memory. The World War I Centennial Commission has taken an all-encompassing approach to remembering the Great War—commissioning a new memorial, creating educational materials for teachers, and hosting states' websites, etc.—giving everyone the opportunity to participate in one form or another. I don't know if anyone or any group in New Haven is going to spearhead the conservation treatment of the Timothy Ahearn Memorial (which he needs and deserves), but I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to get matching monies, and to use my town's monuments and memorials to tell the local stories of the Great War experience.

Video: Dedication of Timothy Ahearn Monument - 1937

Blog Links:

Connecticut State Library, Connecticut in World War I: Sharing History Preserving Memories,

http://ctinworldwar1.org/

The Timothy Ahearn Memorial dedication, November 11, 1937, New Haven, Connecticut. Courtesy of John T. Dillon, Esq.

About The Author

Laura A. Macaluso, Ph.D., holds degrees in art history and the humanities from Southern Connecticut State University, Syracuse University in Italy and Salve Regina University. She has worked as a grant writer and curator in historic sites, museums, art, and park organizations. 

She held a Fulbright at the Swaziland National Museum in 2008-2009, and returned in 2010 under an Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation award from the State Department. She curated the exhibit "An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven's Monuments Man" and authored the accompanying article in Connecticut Explored magazine (Winter 2014-2015). Laura is the author of Historic Treasures of New Haven: Celebrating 375 Years of the Elm City (The History Press, 2013) and Art of the Amistad and the Portrait of Cinqué (American Association of State and Local History/Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). 

Her book, New Haven in World War I, was endorsed by the World War One Centennial Commission, and she will be speaking at the international symposium "The Myriad Faces of War: 1917 and Its Legacy" at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, both in April 2017. She lives with her husband Jeffrey Nichols, the president and chief executive officer of Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, in Lynchburg, Virginia. She can be reached at lauramacaluso@sbcglobal.net.

Led by amateur historian Courtland Jindra, the Save the Victory Memorial Grove project brings together the Hollywood American Legion Post 43, The Southern California Daughters of the American Revolution and the Los Angeles Department of Recreations and Parks. 

The team submitted their proposal to the 100C/100M program over the holidays, following the recommendation of submitting early, so that we can help create awareness of their project through the Commission. The project will continue to develop their proposal, but with their submittal, we can now share the project with you. Go SoCal!

Let me tell you a little about the the project based on the team's research submitted. 

The location is generally hidden. The grove and the memorial are nestled in a parkland area just west of Chavez Ravine - home of Dodger Stadium - the location holds a commanding view south to downtown LA - peeking all the way to the ocean a bit further to the west.

It is fascinating memorial because it started with a tree planting program to honor the fallen... and included the planting of a field of Flanders Poppies in 1920. 

The LA Parks Commission dedicated the present five-acre Victory Memorial Grove on August 2, 1920 with much of the land donated by a former regent of the CA State Daughters of the American Revolution. 

It is interesting to note that along with plaques and statuary. there were apparently quite a few tree planting memorial activities around the country after the WWI vets returned, 

It makes sense that in a period of honoring the fallen that we would plant trees as symbols long remembrance and life.

More to come...

We will do an interview with members of the Grove team and bring you more about their project over the coming weeks. 
Right now, we want to congratulate the team: Courtland,  Kimberly Jindra,  the Eschscholtzia Daughters of the American Revolution Chapter of Southern California, and Hollywood American Legion Post 43 for working so hard to bring this project into being.

Preface

This is Part 2 of Laura A. Macaluso's three part series profiling a Doughboy Memorial project in Connecticut. Again we want to thank Laura for her knowledge and insight,  which she is sharing for all our benefit. In this post, you can learn a great deal about how these types of memorials come about in the first place, and some of the process a sculpture goes through in creating an iconic statue.

Commissioning The Timothy Ahearn Memorial - Part 2
By Laura A. Macaluso

Reading over preparatory materials for the SOS! grant application from fifteen years ago, it's clear that the basics of the monument's creation and installation was known but little more than that. Several things happened in the following years that enlarged the backstory of the Timothy Ahearn Memorial in important ways, connecting information in state archives, local libraries and personal collections. In the years that the City of New Haven and the Elm City Parks Conservancy were addressing the conservation needs of bronze monuments in the park system (2001-2007), Amy Trout, the curator at the New Haven Museum, was putting together an exhibit on the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA). The exhibit provided the context for the large amount of public works of art created in New Haven under the WPA in the 1930s—including the Timothy Ahearn Memorial, the only bronze monument to come out of the WPA in the city or county.

From the exhibit we learned about the process of creating federally-subsidized works of art: under the WPA, local groups could sponsor a work of art, paying for the cost of the material used, while the U.S. government paid for the salaries of the artists, who were approved through a stringent application system and enrolled into the work program. The monument of the bronze doughboy stands on a limestone base, and the inscription about who commissioned the monument—and thus paid for "a ton of modeling clay" and bronze and limestone, which are costly materials—was clear: on the fourth side of the base (rear)

a bronze plaque reads (all thanks to Michael Herrick of the Historical Marker Database for this transcription):

Timothy Ahearn Memorial, Karl Lang, West River Memorial Park, 1937. Photograph by Henry Skrecko. Courtesy of the Connecticut State Library.

Erected A.D. MCMXXXVII
by
New Haven Chapter, Yankee Division Veterans Association
and the Federal Art Project of the
Works Progress Administration

Karl Lang, Sculptor
Committee
Mayor John W. Murphy, Ex Officio
John T. Dillon, Chairman • Leonard J. Maloney, Secretary • Raymond W. Hayward, Treasurer

Ralph L. Bishop • Charles L. Boucher • Albert Carocci • James Coleman • James H.P. Conlon • Philip H. English • Walter S. Garde • Charles M. Gardner • Peter J. Geenty • John M. Golden • James A. Haggerty • Frank P. Lee • Walter E. Malley • Joseph T. Marinan • John J. McKeon • Patrick Quinn • Joseph Roach • Laura Sargent • James A. Shanley • Harold Shields • Edward J. Stackpole • Anthony R. Teta • Wayland Williams • Walter I. Wirth

Post No. 47 – American Legion
Post No. 130 – American Legion
Post No. 132 – American Legion
Post No. 85 – Jewish War Veterans
Chap. No. 2 – Disabled American Veterans

Erected by Maxwell & Pagano
New Haven, Conn.

The last part of the Ahearn Memorial backstory just came to light in 2016—a decade after my initial work—due in part to the upcoming centennial of the American entry into World War I (April 2017) and the centennial of the Armistice (November 2018).As described, I had little connection to the names listed on the plaque attached to the Ahearn Memorial beyond the two names associated to the WPA (John Murphy, mayor and the primary supporter of the WPA in New Haven and Wayland Williams, the city and state WPA administrator), but, after preparing the book, New Haven in World War I, whose publication will coincide with the centennial of the American entry into the first global war of the twentieth century, it became clear that the backstory of the monument was missing something at its core: a focus on New Haven's infantry soldiers and veterans, whose memories of World War I were replayed every year around the Timothy Ahearn Memorial, and around the history of April 20, 1918—the battle of Seicheprey, where seventeen New Haveners died together on the western front—an event little remembered today.

RELATED LINKS FOR YOUR REFERENCE:

WPA Art Inventory, Connecticut State Library, http://ctstatelibrary.org/wpa-art-inventory/

About the Author

Laura A. Macaluso, Ph.D., holds degrees in art history and the humanities from Southern Connecticut State University, Syracuse University in Italy and Salve Regina University. She has worked as a grants writer and curator in historic sites, museums, art, and park organizations. She held a Fulbright at the Swaziland National Museum in 2008-2009, and returned in 2010 under an Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation award from the State Department. She curated the exhibit "An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven's Monuments Man" and authored the accompanying article in Connecticut Explored magazine (Volume 13, No. 1, Winter, 2014/2015). Laura is the author of Historic Treasures of New Haven: Celebrating 375 Years of the Elm City (The History Press, 2013) and Art of the Amistad and the Portrait of Cinqué (American Association of State and Local History/Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). Her forthcoming book, New Haven in World War I, was endorsed by the United States World War One Centennial Commission (www.worldwarIcentennial.org). The book will be accompanied by an article in the spring 2017 issue of Connecticut Explored. In addition, she has written articles, blog posts, and book reviews for Material Culture, The International Society for Landscape, Place, and Material Culture; Nineteenth Century; AASLH; National Council on Public History; Collections, A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, and Adventures in Preservation. She lives with her husband Jeffrey Nichols, the President/CEO of Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, in Lynchburg, Virginia.

Our apologies for some post notices that went out over new years weekend that should not have.

Our erstwhile digital robots got a little confused by the year change.. It is sort of like remembering to use 2017 when you write dates.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

We WILL be publishing a new post shortly - and on that one - we are not kidding.

​As we posted previously, the Ogden Utah Doughboy Statue renovation submitted its grant application a few weeks ago.

In an interview for the December 21st. Sync Call, we spoke with the project manager, Terry Schow from American Legion Post 9 about the project, 

The Doughboy memorial was originally located at the local American Legion post, but was donated to the City of Ogden in the 50's. It is now re-located in the Veterans Section of the Ogden City Cemetery.  The Ogden Doughboy was created by renowned sculptor Gilbert P. Risvold, who also sculpted a series of Doughboy statues in Illinois. 

You'll enjoy the part of Terry's interview where he tells us about when, at some time in the past nearly 100 years, the statue's helmet was lost or stolen.  It was replaced - by well meaning but perhaps misguided folks - with a construction worker's helmet, and then spray painted, as was the whole statue, with gold radiator paint. 

Conservators around the country are quacking in their boots! Of course, Terry and his team are doing it the the right way. We invite you to follow Laura Macaluso's post series on this blog for some guidance on how to avoid such well intentioned errors.

Thanks again to Terry Schow, the American Legion and all the veterans organizations that are supporting the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program. 

Your support makes the rescue of these ailing WWI memorials possible. Bless you and Happy New Year!

The video is also available in the RESOURCES > Project Profile tab on the 100C / 100M web site.

​STRATEGY TIP: Submit early!
Because once you submit your project's grant application, we are able to promote it:

Please note that although this is a matching grant competition, based on our program rules, once you have submitted your grant application, we are able to help you promote it in a variety of ways including via the US World War One Centennial Commission website, posted project profiles, blog posts, social media posts, and our outreach communications vehicles. 

This can help you highlight your project in your communities and with local media, which in turn assists you with your fund raising and support expansion.

Even if your project application still needs work, we can promote it as soon as you submit it. Then, on request, we can set it up so that you can edit and update your submission documents and information up to the submission closing date of the competition on June 15, 2017.

Preface

Laura A. Macaluso participated in a 100 Cities / 100 Memorials webinar about the best practices for conservation of WWI memorials.
uring her participation, she was so articulate and informed on the subject, I asked if she would please contribute some blog posts to our endeavor. 

We are all fortunate that she agreed. Laura has put together an wonderful three part series of blog posts profiling a Doughboy Memorial project in Connecticut. We invite you to read, learn and comment. Most of all we want to thank Laura. Her knowledge and insight is formidable. Here is PART 1.

The Timothy Ahearn Memorial in New Haven - Part 1
By Laura A. Macaluso

Timothy Ahearn Memorial, Karl Lang, 8.5’ height of bronze plus 6’ (base), 1937, West River Memorial Park, New Haven. Photograph by William Sacco, 2016

This is a story about a monument to a doughboy. 

It's not the earliest, largest, or most expensive American monument to World War I, and it wasn't made by a well-known artist. On the surface, it appears to be a common type of monument, one of hundreds of bronze doughboys installed in the post-war years in cities and towns across the United States. 

There are doughboys in Provincetown on Cape Cod, in Chicago, in towns across the American south such as Lynchburg, Virginia where I live, and several in New York City alone. But, even though, as Jennifer Wingate writes in her book Sculpting Doughboys, that "World War I memorials as whole ultimately reflect a surprising degree of individuality," for many bronze monuments—but especially those dedicated to the Great War—the fullness of the monuments' meaning fell apart in the decades after the deaths of the last World War I veterans.

The local stories embedded in these works of art and memorialization are just now coming back together, thanks to the efforts of programs such as the World War One Centennial Commission's 100 Cities/100 Memorials. I've been acquainted with the Timothy Ahearn Memorial for fifteen years, but am only now understand what role the large bronze doughboy played in the City of New Haven's memory of World War I. 

It took a long time to get here; when I first worked on the conservation treatment of the monument, the centennial of the Great War was not on anyone's radar, and the doughboy was just another neglected monument, covered in overgrown shrubbery, one object in a city full of such objects.

​ Image above shows the Timothy Ahearn Memorial, Karl Lang, 8.5' height of bronze plus 6' (base), 1937, West River Memorial Park, New Haven, CT. Photograph by William Sacco, 2016. The memorial stands at the corner of Ella Grasso Boulevard and Derby Avenue, heavily trafficked routes into the city. Although first intended for Fair Haven, an Irish-American neighborhood where Timothy Ahearn and many members of the 102^nd Regiment hailed from, the monument was placed in West River Memorial Park—itself intended as a "new memorial parkway" with a lagoon along the Boulevard, although the Ahearn Memorial was the only monument ever installed.

But, that cycle of interest, care and funding ended, too, and now another decade has passed. And, once again, the Timothy Ahearn Memorial is looking neglected and worn, streaking again appearing on the bronze, likely due to its exposure at the corner of two heavily traveled avenues which are automobile access routes into the city. Unlike the largest American cities—New York, Los Angeles and Boston, for example—that have active conservation and maintenance programs for their works of public art, most cities do not, thus an opportunity to kick-start monuments conservation around World War I should be grabbed quickly, such opportunities are rare these days! None of us will be around for the next centennial event, but, with some work, the monuments and memorials will be.

The next blog post in this series will look at the creation and installation of the Timothy Ahearn Memorial under the Federal Art Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA).

BLOG POST LINKS

Jennifer Wingate, Sculpting Doughboys, Memory, Gender, and Taste in America's World War I Memorials (Surrey, England: Ashgate Publishing Company, 2013). **The book is prohibitively expensive, but, you can read about her work highlighted by the "BackStory with the American History Guys" at http://backstoryradio.org/2014/09/19/the-great-wars-forgotten-monuments/ or read her article in American Art (vol. 19, no. 2, Summer 2005): 26-47 here:

Wingate served as one of the juror's on the World War One Centennial Commission's memorial design competition.

About the author

Laura A. Macaluso, Ph.D., holds degrees in art history and the humanities from Southern Connecticut State University, Syracuse University in Italy and Salve Regina University. 

She has worked as a grants writer and curator in historic sites, museums, art, and park organizations. She held a Fulbright at the Swaziland National Museum in 2008-2009, and returned in 2010 under an Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation award from the State Department. She curated the exhibit "An Artist at War: Deane Keller, New Haven's Monuments Man" and authored the accompanying article in Connecticut Explored magazine (Volume 13, No. 1, Winter, 2014/2015). 

Laura is the author of Historic Treasures of New Haven: Celebrating 375 Years of the Elm City (The History Press, 2013) and Art of the Amistad and the Portrait of Cinqué (American Association of State and Local History/Rowman & Littlefield, 2016). 

Her forthcoming book, New Haven in World War I, was endorsed by the United States World War One Centennial Commission (www.worldwarIcentennial.org). The book will be accompanied by an article in the spring 2017 issue of Connecticut Explored.

In addition, she has written articles, blog posts, and book reviews for Material Culture, The International Society for Landscape, Place, and Material Culture; Nineteenth Century; AASLH; National Council on Public History; Collections, A Journal for Museum and Archives Professionals, and Adventures in Preservation. She lives with her husband Jeffrey Nichols, the President/CEO of Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest, in Lynchburg, Virginia.

2/3 have gone missing!

The fact is, nobody knows exactly how many WWI Memorials there are in the US... 

The Memorial Hunters Club is crowd-sourcing a national registry of WWI memorials and based on our results since our launch in October, we have come up with a credible number.

There are 3,500 WW1 Memorials in the US and  2/3 of them have gone missing! 

Here is the mathematical exercise that leads us to that conclusion:

• The US World War One Commission has a state publishing partner program where we host state WWI commissions on our national website. Those teams have access to the same mapping function we are using for the Memorial Hunters Map - In fact they can post memorials on their state maps and punch those through to the national Memorial Register map also. 
• Three of those states have really rocked it with great efforts to ID and post their state memorials.
• Those states are New Jersey, Georgia and Alabama. 
• As three eastern and south eastern states - they average 118 WWI Memorials per state. 
• There are 26 states East of the Mississippi, so we will assume that they are average based on our reference states.
• There leaves 24 states West of the Mississippi. We will assume that they are at 50% of average in those states.
  
• Though Hawaii has a WWI memorial, a WWI Centennial Committee and they publish on our site - to be conservative, we will eliminate Hawaii and Alaska from our count. 

The data and math lead to 3,500 WWI memorials as a reasonable number. Here is how it lays out:

• 24 states @ 118 = 2,832 memorials east of the Mississippi 
• 22 States at 59 = 1,298 memorials west of the Mississippi 
• High side total assuming we are 100% correct in our premises = 4,130 World War One Memorials in the US 
• Low side total assuming we are 70% correct in our premises = 2,891 World War One Memorials in the US 

VERY REASONABLE CONCLUSION 

We therefor contend that it is reasonable to say that there are 3,500 World War One Memorials in the United States 

OUR MISSING HERITAGE

Based on the memorials we have identified and registered, we only know about 30% of them or less. 

• So help get the word out about the Memorial Hunters Club.
• Contact your local VFW, American Legion posts, 
• Look for historic building in your community that are over 100 years old 
• Check schools, parks, stadiums, and churches -

Help us find, register and catalogue this American archeological treasure that is hiding in plain sight! 

Go to ww1cc.org/hunter and help us ID and register the missing 2,300 Memorials! 

Thanks.

The Memorial Hunters Club.

See how it lays out on the 100C/100M Memorial Hunters Map

The Veterans of Foreign Wars, national organization, has agreed to officially support the 100M / 100C program as a supporting organization. 

The 100C/100M program managers are busy preparing resources especially tailored to the VFW regional and local posts. This will include:

• ​A 1-page 100C/100M program overview 
  
• An implementation guide that helps outline the steps for participation 
  
• A pocket presentation - Really more of a crib sheet - that regional and local members can use to present the program to fellows, associates and associated organizations. 
  
• An overview on the Memorial Hunters Club. 
  

This is very exciting news for the program as we have less than 6 months left for teams to identify, organize and submit matching grant applications for consideration. 

Look for more news and newly available resources between now and the Holiday, and get ready to get underway as we hit the new year of 2017! There are already a number of VFW teams that have contacted us with questions and we look forward to supporting your projects and memorial restorations. We will also be encouraging local VFW posts to join with their communities in helping us identify their local WWI memorials through the Memorial Hunters Club. 

VFW members - Welcome aboard! and thank you.

Terry Schow from the American Legion has put together an Ogden, Utah matching grant application that was officially submitted last week - We congratulate him and his associates and would like to share their project with the rest of the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials participant community. 

Every one of these projects is amazing in it's own right. 

This one distinguishing itself by the impressive coalition of organizations that have pulled together for the project. 

The project originated with the Weber County Heritage Foundation, who began a multi-phase conservation program for the neglected memorial several years ago. The completion phase for the project is scheduled in time for the centennial of Armistice Day, November 11, 2018. 

Terry and team then pulled together the Weber County Heritage Foundation, the Golden Spike Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) as well as the Phil Ficarra Weber County Chapter of the DAR, The Ogden Kiwanis Club, and of course Post 9 Utah American Legion. 

This memorial is located in the Veterans Section of the Ogden City Cemetery and was sculpted by Gilbert P. Risvold, also known for his sculpture of WWI servicemen at the Oak Park and Forest Memorial in Chicago, which includes a doughboy statue similar to the one in Ogden. 

Among the repairs for the Ogden Doughboy Memorial are to fix a bent rifle barrel damaged in an apparent attempt to steal the replica weapon, shot gun and other small arms damage to the Doughboy's back, and replacement of the gun bolt and the original helmet that was stolen and replaced with an ordinary painted construction hard-hat. Through their effort, this group will be repairing this tough, abused but still standing Ogden Doughboy with the TLC and honor this representative of the fine WW1 veterans deserves. We are proud to have the Ogden Doughboy project submitted to our 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project. Many thanks to the Utah team for doing this important project.

STRATEGY TIP: Submit early.
Because once you submit your project's grant application, we are able to promote it:

Please note that although this is a matching grant competition, based on our program rules, once you have submitted your grant application, we are able to help you promote it in a variety of ways including via the US World War One Centennial Commission website, posted project profiles, blog posts, social media posts, and our outreach communications vehicles. This can help you highlight your project in your communities and with local media, which in turn assists you with your fund raising and support expansion.

Even if your project application still needs work, we can promote it as soon as you submit it. Then, on request, we can set it up so that you can edit and update your submission documents and information up to the submission closing date of the competition on June 15, 2017.

With FIVE memorials to her tally.... Hunter Lori knocked one out of the park - or more accurately out of the stadium! 
Lori found memorials by looking around SCHOOLS! Check this out - All submitted by Hunter Lori: 

1. Memorial Stadium at Kansas University 
Built in 1920 as a memorial to KU students who died in service during WW1. Located on the University of Kansas campus. 

2. Haskell Stadium
Built by Native Americans to commemorate those of the Haskell community who served in WW1, many of whom were not citizens of the US. Stadium is falling into disrepair, unfortunately. Cultural museum across the street has quality exhibits about the heydays of the stadium, the military history of Haskell alum, and the rich history of Haskell Indian Nations University. Well worth a visit.

3. Liberty Memorial Central Middle School
Originally named Liberty Memorial High School, it was completed in 1923 as a monument to the Lawrence High School students and graduates whose died in service during World War I. Of the 300 Lawrence youth who served, 144 hadn't yet graduated from high school. This number includes the two high school girls who died while serving as nurses.

4. Kansas Memorial Union
Like the Memorial Stadium, the student union was built to memorialize University of Kansas. It is situated on Mount Oread, overlooking the stadium, and was completed in 1927. The 6th floor of the union has a small exhibit which includes photographs of the 129 KU men and women who died during their service in WW1.

5. Victory Eagle at University of Kansas 
Originally located at the Douglas-Leavenworth county line, the victory eagle is now located on the University of Kansas campus. This bronze sculpture, cast in 1920, was a part of the Victory Highway project, which intended to place these sculpture at each county line of U.S 40. A plaque at each sculpture would list those from the county who had served during WW1. The Great Depression disrupted these plans, and only six victory eagles were ever installed. After being vandalized and toppled in the early 80s, the sculpture was moved from the county line to the university campus. The original plaque has been lost to history, as has the name of the artist and foundry.

​Schools, universities, stadiums

Check your local schools. Even if the building is newer, check the flag poles.
Was your school's stadium built before 1930? Apparently is was very popular to dedicate them to WWI veterans groups.
Are you at a state university?
Check with the library, or the administration to see if there are any plaques, statues or stones they know are WWI memorials. 
Are your kids there? Ask them to check.

Take a lesson from Hunter Lori. Check your schools, universities and stadiums!

We got this great question from a wonderful team in Ohio:

We recently were notified of a missing WWI marker found in a basement of an old city building and our post along with the Historical Society and the city administration want to get it refurbished and get a place for it to be displayed. We need the $2000 grant badly as our post only has 18 members and we have minimal money.

We can raise the basic $2000 for the matching grant. That is no problem. The problem is writing the grant as we do not have a grant writer nor the expertise to do so.

by Commander VFW post -Ohio

Here is the answer to this really important question... And we want to share this with all of you!

Please don't let the grant application scare you.

It's not that formal. In fact the question is a really good one.
Most of what we are asking you to submit in the application is really for you and not for us.

By the time you lay out the information we are asking for, you will have thought through your project the way you should, in order to pull it off successfully.

Please don't think of our grant application process as a road block. We WANT to give you the money because we WANT you to restore the memorial. We trying to help you succeed in your project. I know a grant application sounds like a formal thing that specialists do… but we really know and understand that all the folks who are going to be taking on these restoration and conservation service projects are FOLKS not grant specialists.

Take a look at the competition briefing video [Link to the video here] at around 8:45 - it explains what you'll need to include:

There is some information we need, a letter from the memorial owners and two documents

INFORMATION: We need to know basic info -where the project is, who owns it, the team name who's taking the project on.
Letter: We also ask for a confirmation letter from the memorial owners / managers confirming that your team is authorized to do the project, We have a sample confirmation letter for you use as a template: [Link to download the sample confirmation letter or find it in RESOURCES on the 100C/100M site > downloads]

DOCUMENT 1  Then we ask you to submit a project plan. In fact we posted a document that outlines what you need to include: [Link to download the PDF or find it in RESOURCES on the 100C/100M site > downloads]
The most important reason for this document is to help you plan. If you can fill in the outline - it's a good bet you will have thought through the basics of what you are getting yourself into.
We want you to succeed and we want to help you to think through it. It's not such a big deal - it's an outline of what your planning to do, how you plan on doing it, what you think it's gonna cost, how you think your gonna raise the core funds. Things like that. These are thing you need to be clear on anyway and the documents makes a great check list. There are no points given or lost on making it fancy. We just want to help you line up all the pieces.

DOCUMENT 2 Last but not least - and probably a lot of fun, is a section called: Our Memorial, Our Community and Our Project - This is the part that we will publish on the national website, use for showing project profiles, and that you can use to tell the world about your memorial and your project. You can have pictures, videos (got an iPhone?), sound or just a nice explanation - but you still want pictures. In the case of the question above - showing the plaque that you found and the shape it's in, the place you want to put it, and what you plan on doing should make a great story.

Keep sending in those great questions. We are here to help and we will share key questions with the others interested in the program.

The 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project team.

Memorial Hunters - You are AWESOME!! 

In this first week you found memorials in: Trafford, PA - Milford, CT - Morton Grove, IL - Elkhart, IL - Etowah, TN - Hardwick, MA - Hollywood, CA - Los Angeles, CA - Glendale, CA - St. Mary's, KS - Milltown, NJ - Newark , DE - Riverhead, NY - Morton Grove, IL - New Haven , CT - Uxbridge, MA - Williamsville, IL and Lindenhurst, NY 

California was representing with THREE submissions... from Hollywood, Los Angeles and Glendale. 

There wonderful WWI memorials hidden around big metros. In fact, hiding in plain site is Los Angeles' huge traditional stadium, the Memorial Coliseum, former home of the Rams, Trojans, Raiders and site of TWO Olympics. This venue is actually a dedicated WWI Memorial site. 

Right after the war, Los Angeles was trying to get a large athletic complex built, so the idea was advanced to make a multi-purpose stadium that could hold sporting, civic, and memorial events. The stadium was dedicated as a perpetual memorial to LA County Veterans of the World War. I've lived in Los Angeles for 45 years and never knew!

And small town American was also representing in force this first week with interesting WWI memorials, surprisingly often located on "Main Street".

The backgrounds and stories submitted are wonderful and so are the Memorial Hunters...
A big shout out to: 

• Hunter Laura Macaluso 
• Hunter Paul Osman 
• Hunter Kamy Gamble 
• Hunter Jeff Lawrence 
• Hunter Temporary Hero 
• Hunter Courtland Jindra 
• Hunter Jeffrey Nelson 
• Hunter Donald Petry 
• Hunter Kennard Wiggins 
• Hunter Edward Walz 
• Hunter Mark Matz 
• Hunter Kennard Wiggins 
• Hunter Jeff Lawrence 
• Hunter Edward Walz 
• Hunter Andrew Capets 

HELP US GET THE WORD OUT... 

Uncovering these fading and even lost treasures is fun, educational and meaningful. It's a great weekend activity!

As you pull together the information and background of these memorials, your community history comes into focus. And when we are done, dear Memorial Hunters... We will have a national register of these important remembrances to our past.

Get in touch with local scout troops, Legionnaires, VFW, civic organizations, church groups, make it a school field trip.

AND DON'T FORGET TO INCLUDE THAT SELFIE WITH YOUR FIND.

Press Release

​FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

The Memorial Hunters Club challenges public to find and register local WWI Memorials 

Hundreds of missing WWI memorials to be assembled into a national register & map 

Washington, DC - October 28, 2016 

There is currently no complete U.S. register of WWI memorials. The Memorial Hunters Club, launches this week from the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program and is intended to crowd-source a complete register of US WWI memorials. 

The initiative invites veterans groups, schools, scouts, 4H members, DAR chapters, civic organizations and interested individuals to locate, document, research and register local memorials not currently in the US World War One Centennial Commission's database found at ww1cc.org/ww1-memorials. 

The resulting map, images, information and raw data will be put into the public domain and will be made available to any school, university, organization or anyone who wishes to expand on or publish the results. 

As a reward for finding one of these fading cultural treasures (not currently recorded on the national map), the Memorial Hunter or Team will be recognized on the map and database as the source of that find, either by name, nickname or team name. 

It is a little like Pokemon Go(R) in that the memorials will be found in public places, parks, public building, schools and churches. Once a Memorial Hunter has located a memorial, they can use their smart phone to look it up on the map at ww1cc.org/hunter and if it is not posted they can claim it by taking pictures, marking the map location, researching the history and uploading the find on the Memorial Hunters Club web site. 

"We think this is going to be a fun, as well as, highly educational activity, hunting a fading archeology of America's short but poignant history. The MHC (Memorial Hunters Club) offers a great service project activity for scouts, schools, organizations and enthusiasts alike, as it brings focus to local history and heritage during this centennial period" said Theo Mayer, one of the program managers for 100 Cities / 100 Memorials. 

Background: 100 years ago, In April of 1917, the United States enters World War 1. Nearly 1 million US soldiers would fight 13 key battles in Europe, decisively helping to end a devastating 4 year global struggle. Nearly 4 million Americans in total put on the uniform ready to serve. That is nearly 1 in 5 U.S. adults affecting every city, town and family in the country. On the return of the troop, thousands of Memorials were erected in parks, churches, schools and other locations around the country. In nearly century later, many of these memorials have fallen into disrepair and even more have faded from recognition and memory. The Memorial Hunters Club combines the adventure of Pokemon Go(R) and civic pride of community to located and record this fading national heritage. 

About 100 Cities / 100 Memorials: The 100 Cities / 100 Memorials is a $200,000 matching grant give away, established by the US World War One Centennial Commissions and the Pritzker Military Museum and Library, supported by various Veterans Service organization such as The American Legion and The Veterans of Foreign Wars. The program provides matching grants for organizations and groups who undertake WWI memorial restorations, conservation and repairs. The Memorial Hunters Club is in support of this program by helping participants identity and undertake these service projects. 

Contact: 

Chris Isleib
U.S. World War One Centennial Commission
Director of Public Affairs
chris.isleib@worldwar1centennial.org
301 641 4060

If you are undertaking a 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project, you need to get permission from the controlling entities. This can include the building owners where the memorial is located, the city and perhaps even the state historical commission if the memorial is a recognized historical artifact.

We have provided you with a sample letter you can adapt to your project as a resource support and aid for your use.

You can click the DOWNLOAD button below or access it on the Resources Page on the site at: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/resources.html#downloads

​Richard Eckert from American Legion post 42 in Ocean Springs, MS led the charge on a memorial Restoration Project that provides us all with wonderful example of what a 100 Cities / 100 Memorials challenge grant project can look like. They completed their project earlier this year, and qualifies under the program.

Because they have already submitted their application, we are able to profile it on the National site, which is a benefit to you, us and them.

Watch it here or in the resources section of the site: http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/resources.html#project-profiles

Check out this project profile and let us know what you think.

The 100 Cities / 100 Memorials Competition Briefing Webinar is now available as a video. You can watch it here or in the new Resources section of the program's site.

​Three of our publishing partner states have created comprehensive resources of monuments, memorials, and historic WWI sites. 

This is really helpful for the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program,  supporting interested participants in finding local service projects in these states.

THANK YOU Alabama, Georgia and New Jersey! (in alphabetical order - Check them out!)

We will be combining their databases with additional information we have been pulling together and we will be publishing a new 800+ location WWI memorial map in the next 10 days. When you see it, you will understand that we are far from a comprehensive compendium of WW1 Memorials.

SO - stand by for an announcement about our upcoming MEMORIAL HUNTERS CLUB, where we will be encouraging interested parties to find and report local WWI memorials helping anyone who is interested in conserving or restoring this partially lost and hidden American history.

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/alabama-wwi-related-places.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/monuments-memorials-historic-sites.html

http://www.worldwar1centennial.org/index.php/nj-wwi-related-locations.html

DATE AND TIME: Wed, Oct 19, 2016 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EST 

This interactive online event is especially focused at Veterans Service Organizations who want to participate in the 100 Cities - 100 Memorials matching grant challenge. However, the information is pertinent to anyone interested in participating in the program. 

AGENDA:

• Overview of the competition - key dates, why this matters, the benefits of participation
• Qualifying for a grant - Checklist 
• How to find a local WWI memorial service project
• Benefits of early application
• SPECIAL FEATURE- PROJECT PROFILE: American Legion Post 42 Ocean Springs PERSHING SQUARE PROJECT.
  Hear from an American Legion post that has produced a qualifying project and learn what they went through and some of the peripheral, and unexpected results.
• Q&A / Round table 

REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN AT: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3265406975702266113

SAVE THE DATE: Wed. October 19, 3pm EST

We will be hosting a special online event focused especially for Veterans Service Organizations who want to participate in the program - however the webinar will apply to everyone interested in participating in the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials matching grant program.

We are still refining the agenda details, but the subjects covered will include:

• Overview of the competition - Key dates, why this matters, the benefits of participation
• Qualifying for a grant - Checklist
  
• How to find a local WWI memorial service project
• Resources we can offer
• Examples of projects
• Taking advantage of early submission benefits

We will be sending out more information including a registration link in the coming week - we just wanted you to save the date.

IMPORTANT PROGRAM NOTICE: 

Updated information as of 9/12/16

The competition manual and the competition regulations have been updated to reflect the new project schedule. 

We recommend that prospective grant applicants read the updated competition manual, schedule and competition regulations either online or by downloading the PDF.

Chris Isleib, The World War One Centennial Commission's Director of Public Affairs was interviewed by Defense News television about the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project.

The $200,000 matching grant giveaway program is being received with huge excitement everywhere. Veterans Service Organizations, civic groups and many others have contacted us with great enthusiasm for participating in the program.
Along with the interest has come a very consistent concern about the short time available for participants to identify, plan, organize and submit projects for matching grant consideration.

The consistent request for more time to ID and prep project submissions makes tremendous sense to the program sponsors. 

In response we are happy to announce that we are extending the submission deadline from November 11, 2016, all the way to June 15, 2017 (midnight EDT)

We are reworking the whole program schedule now, but our goal is to honor all the submissions over next summer and to announce the winning grantees on Veterans Day 2017, giving everyone a year to complete their projects.

If you have any questions, you can submit them by clicking this link.

"Memorial Restoration 101" - Finding, planning, do's and don'ts

Please register for 100 Cities / 100 Memorials Webinar #1: "Memorial Restoration 101" on Sep 08, 2016 2:00 PM EDT 

This is the first in a series of informational webinars for our $200,000 matching grant giveaway to restore ailing WWI memorials.

"Memorial Restoration 101" focuses on: 

1. How to find and identify the WWI memorials in your area 

2. How to plan your project, including how to evaluate your need for a conservator's evaluation

3. A guide on the do's and don'ts in restoration.

The webinar will feature conservator experts and project team members to help you get going with your planning. 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

We'll publish an expanded agenda in the next few days

PREFACE: This post is an expansion (and paraphrasing) from questions asked to Dr. Mark Levitch, an art historian at the National Gallery of Art, and the founder and president of the World War I Memorial Inventory Project. He has partnered with the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission on 100 Cities/100 Memorials.

Q2: If a group wants to do a simple cleanup or update, what are the top "do" and "don't do" things they should be aware of?

The most important thing to do is to leave any hands-on work to a professional conservator. Any attempt at "cleaning" a memorial—even a simple bronze plaque—can cause permanent damage. The American Institute for Conservation maintains a list of qualified object conservators. Non-professionals can focus on documenting a memorial photographically. You can pay special attention to problem areas, such as cracks in stone, graffiti, or discolored plaques and of course, it is always possible to put together a project that focuses on cleaning up or beautifying the area around the memorial, including landscaping, adding a place to site in contemplation, and things of that nature.

We also nvite you to join us for our "Memorial Restoration 101" webinar scheduled for September 8, 2016 The webinar is designed for potential participants who want to learn more about what to do, how it should be done. It will feature conservator experts in these kinds of restorations.

We will be publishing a sign up for that webinar next week.

Q1: What is the best way for people to ID and find WWI memorials in their community?

Some memorials can be found online, but many can't – and hunting them down is half the fun. Community memorials are frequently situated in central locations, such as town greens or squares, or along a main street or major intersection. They are often found, too, at courthouses and town or city halls. Other popular locations include parks (especially memorial or veterans parks), American Legion or VFW posts, cemeteries, and schools and colleges. Churches and synagogues also frequently erected honor rolls, as did many large businesses and institutions. World War I also ushered in "living," or functional, memorials—memorial stadiums, libraries, bridges, etc.—virtually all of which contain memorial plaques. 

Dr. Mark Levitch, an art historian at the National Gallery of Art, is the founder and president of the World War I Memorial Inventory Project. He has partnered with the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission on 100 Cities/100 Memorials.

The time capsule placed under Rutherford's World War I Monument could be cracked open and be part of a special exhibit next year. The World War I Monument Committee is working with the historic preservation committee and may enlist the help of Bruno Associates to obtain grants for Phase 2 of the World War I Monument renovations and the time capsule removal, officials said last week. 

World War I resulted in such a large number of casualties that when it was over it was believed to be "The War to End All Wars." Rutherford's monument, originally called "The Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument," honors 19 sons of Rutherford who sacrificed their lives for their country during World War I. 

Edgar Williams, the architect brother of the Pulitzer Prize-winning poet William Carlos Williams, designed and built Rutherford's World War I Monument in May of 1920. The architect, who died in 1974, had a strong influence on the civic heart of the borough and felt that the boys lost to the war should be honored in a monumental way-an ever-burning torch in the middle of Rutherford's downtown. A bronze plaque on the pedestal bears the names of the 19 Rutherfordians who died in the war along with 19 stars to represent each one. Also listed are the battle locations in which Rutherford soldiers fought: Somme, Cantigny, Marne, Cambrai, Chateau-Thierry, Mount Kemmel, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Piave. 

At the July 25 mayor and council meeting, the mayor reappointed Bill Galloway, Virginia Marass, Teddy Van Winkle and Rod Leith to the WWI Committee. The mayor said he intends to appoint other members at a later date. In addition, a resolution passed allowing for the appropriation of $1,040 from a 2015 Bergen County Historical Grant.

Mayor Joe DeSalvo said the WWI Monument Committee will work with the historic preservation committee and Bruno and Associates to obtain grants.

The mayor and council recently awarded a $9,500 consultant contract to Architectural Preservation Studio PC (APS). APS is preparing a bid solicitation for the work on the next phase of repairs and restoration on the WWI Monument, with Sandeep Sikka as the lead APS partner on the project and a maximum budget of about $89,000. The scope of Phase 2 is to address drainage repairs, safety buffers for the immediate circle around the monument and restoration work on the monument's bronze ornamentation. The scope of work also includes applying water repellant to the monument surface to keep it from suffering further water-related deterioration, said Borough Historian Rod Leith.

Leith is also hoping that funds will be left over for salvage and preservation of the time capsule and its contents, which have been under the monument since 1920. The items would make up a special exhibit in 2017 and 2018 that would coincide with the anniversary of the entry of America into WWI and the peace treaty signed in 1918.

The Rutherford Historical Committee plans to apply to the Pritzker Military Museum and Library for a grant of $2,000 with the 100 Cities/100 Memorials Grant Program. The grant would have to be matched by the town. Rutherford would apply and use the money-a total of $4,000-to offset the cost of hiring a conservator for the WWI time capsule consulting work, said Leith.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE AT NorthJersey.com

The American Legion's national organization has passed an executive committee resolution to support the 100 Cities / 100 Memorials project. 

The Legion itself was formed as a result of World War One was often directly involved in the creation of the WWI Memorials erected in the years following the War to End All Wars. The 100 Cities / 100 Memorials program is looking forward to working with local posts around the country as the program's local representative to help communities find, define and address memorial restoration opportunities.