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25-ton sculpture honoring World War I soldiers comes to Washington

Published: 27 July 2024

By Michael E. Ruane and Katie Shepherd
via the Washington Post (DC) newspaper website

Washington Post header article

Part of a version of “A Soldier's Journey” is displayed at Sabin Howard’s studio in Englewood, N.J. The final sculpture is frozen in bronze. (Jeenah Moon for The Washington Post)

The sculpture will be the centerpiece and final element of Washington’s National World War I Memorial.

Soldiers, nurses and children appear on a battlefield landscape littered with debris. Their faces show anguish, determination and pride. Everything seems to be in motion as the figures advance through scenes from World War I.

But the story is frozen in bronze.

The dramatic 58-foot-long sculpture “A Soldier’s Journey” is the centerpiece and final element of Washington’s National World War I Memorial, located in the former Pershing Park just four blocks from the White House. Once installed, it will be the largest free-standing high-relief bronze in the Western Hemisphere, according to the World War I Centennial Commission.

“It’s magnificent,” Daniel S. Dayton, executive director of the commission, said Wednesday. “It’s just stunning.”

The 25-ton sculpture arrived in Washington on Saturday morning, welcomed by a crew of construction workers and members of the World War I Centennial Commission.

As the sun rose over downtown D.C., an air of anticipation filled the former Pershing Park. Workers in bright green vests and white hard hats meandered through the fenced-off sidewalks, making their way to the site. Members of the centennial commission walked along the perimeter, eyes peeled for the orange trucks hauling the bronze work to the District from Baltimore.

Terry W. Hamby, chairman of the commission, stood on the safe side of caution tape surrounding the park and mused about the personal history that led him to this day. The 77-year-old recounted his family’s six generations of military service dating back to the Civil War. On the Mall, Hamby said he had looked out at memorials for the veterans who fought in Korea, World War II and Vietnam — all conflicts at least one of his family members had fought in.

He was struck by the absence of a federal marker for veterans like his grandfather who fought in the Great War. With no living World War I veterans remaining, Hamby said he felt compelled to advocate for one before the war fell so deep into history no one would think to memorialize it.

“It felt like if this generation didn’t build it, it wouldn’t be built,” he said.

Read the entire article on the Washington Post website.
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