Should Clark County move its veterans memorials?

Now that the World War II/Korean War Memorial is com­plete and the site has been des­ig­nat­ed as the Clark County Veterans Memorial Park, per­haps it is time to con­sid­er addi­tion­al uses for the site.

Nearly two years of con­struc­tion and the place­ment of 466 memo­r­i­al bricks in the entry walk have result­ed in the cre­ation of a place where groups can gath­er — the year­ly Memorial Day cer­e­mo­ny here will like­ly take place at this site for the future — and vis­i­tors can wan­der the site at their leisure to appre­ci­ate the ded­i­ca­tion of, and sac­ri­fices made by, many fam­i­lies in Clark County.

And since the site is des­ig­nat­ed as a memo­r­i­al park, per­haps it is time to think about relo­cat­ing two oth­er memo­ri­als to this loca­tion where they can be viewed along with the memo­ri­als ded­i­cat­ed to the Clark Countians who gave their lives in World War II and in Korea. The Vietnam Memorial sits in the south rear yard of the cour­t­house fac­ing Court Street and the Doughboy, memo­ri­al­iz­ing Clark Countians who died in World War I, faces Cleveland Street atop a stone base about sev­en feet in height.

It is inter­est­ing to note that the Doughboy was erect­ed 11 years after the con­clu­sion of World War I and the Vietnam Memorial was erect­ed the same num­ber of years fol­low­ing the end of our par­tic­i­pa­tion in Vietnam. But the memo­r­i­al ded­i­cat­ed to the 96 indi­vid­u­als who died in two lat­er wars was not com­plet­ed until three-quar­ters of a cen­tu­ry after these lat­ter two con­flicts ended.

There is a mod­est amount of space left at Veterans Memorial Park and it would seem the per­fect and appro­pri­ate loca­tion to pay homage to our lost brethren from two oth­er wars, all locat­ed in one place which could become a des­ti­na­tion for visitors.

With the relo­ca­tion of those two mon­u­ments it is high­ly like­ly that more indi­vid­u­als would become aware of them since their present loca­tions seem not to draw many visitors.

Additionally, the Doughboy, sit­ting atop a sev­en-foot pedestal does not per­mit one to ade­quate­ly appre­ci­ate the beau­ti­ful qual­i­ty of the sculp­ture itself. By plac­ing it on a low­er pedestal, per­haps three to four feet in height, its true beau­ty and intri­ca­cy would become more appar­ent. With the relo­ca­tion of these two mon­u­ments, the bronze plaques list­ing the names of those who died in the con­flicts could also be placed with them.

There is sen­ti­ment for leav­ing the Doughboy and Vietnam memo­ri­als in their present loca­tions. Much his­to­ry and nos­tal­gia is attached to them, espe­cial­ly the Doughboy. It was placed in 1929 when a throng of peo­ple num­ber­ing in the hun­dreds watched its instal­la­tion (there are pho­tos of this event). That is part of its his­to­ry. Equally impor­tant is the his­to­ry of the stat­ue itself whose cre­ator claimed that over 300 of them were made and placed in at least 39 states.

However, their his­to­ry does not nec­es­sar­i­ly argue against mov­ing them. The records and pho­tos of their place­ment are archived and their relo­ca­tion might be cause to memo­ri­al­ize their his­to­ry in writ­ing, some­thing at which sev­er­al local indi­vid­u­als are extreme­ly pro­fi­cient. The impor­tance of each memo­r­i­al is not strict­ly attached to where they are locat­ed but to what they rep­re­sent. In their present loca­tions, they are lit­tle more than an aside to some­one who hap­pens by. This is espe­cial­ly true of the Doughboy because it is placed so high that its pedestal is the item which may catch one’s eye, not the stat­ue itself.

Moving the memo­ri­als would also free up space for either pub­lic art — which is sore­ly lack­ing in the down­town area — or for more diverse pub­lic gatherings.

The own­er­ship of the memo­ri­als would have to be for­mal­ized and funds raised to facil­i­tate the relo­ca­tion but pub­lic funds were raised for the Vietnam memo­r­i­al and pub­lic funds were raised to recon­di­tion the Doughboy so it is not unrea­son­able to believe that pub­lic funds could be secured for these relocations.

Veterans Memorial Park has been list­ed as a des­ti­na­tion for vis­i­tors to Clark County; this, in itself, works to assure more access to them. And the park, with acces­si­ble park­ing adja­cent and the entire site designed to be acces­si­ble for the phys­i­cal­ly chal­lenged, makes it a more suit­able place for all the memo­ri­als, not sim­ply placed beside a pub­lic sidewalk.

Surely the impor­tance of mak­ing these two memo­ri­als more acces­si­ble and more like­ly to be appre­ci­at­ed out­weighs a con­sid­er­a­tion of leav­ing them in their present loca­tions sim­ply because of the his­to­ry of their placement.