Proposed memorial causes controversy

By: Matt Campbell and David Goldstein

Posted: 9/25/08

WASHINGTON (MCT) - It could be the last battle of World War I, nearly 100 years later. A Republican congressman from Texas wants to create a memorial to the "war to end all wars" on the National Mall.

But Kansas City feels like it already has that covered. Congress, after all, has designated the city's Liberty Memorial as the National World War I Museum. It's also a National Historic Landmark.

To bolster its claim, the Missouri congressional delegation is behind legislation to ensure that Kansas City serves as the anchor for events surrounding the centennial commemoration of the war, which will get under way in 2014.

"If the World War I monument is established in Washington, it essentially takes the Liberty Memorial off the map," said Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, who sponsored the bill in the House. "What are they going to take next? Gates Barbecue? This is not a little matter. It's a major issue for the people in Missouri."

Republican Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri sponsored the Senate version of the bill.

But Rep. Ted Poe of Texas, whose office, coincidentally, is next door to Cleaver's, thinks a national memorial to the doughboys of the Great War ought to be in the nation's capital and on the mall.

The Korean, Vietnam and Second World Wars all have monuments there.

Poe offered his bill last week, standing alongside Frank Buckles, the last living World War I veteran among nearly 5 million who served. Buckles was born in Bethany, Mo., 107 years ago.

Poe's bill calls for the already existing District of Columbia World War I Memorial to be expanded so that it commemorates everyone who fought in the conflict.

"There's not a memorial for all the World War I veterans among all the other memorials," said Poe spokeswoman DeeAnn Thigpen. "This is something that the congressman is very passionate about."

The Cleaver and Bond bills could get approved before Congress goes home next week. Poe's might not be considered until next year.

It's a long, arduous task to get a new monument approved for the mall. Besides Congress, city and federal hurdles concerning design and other issues must be overcome.

Some mall enthusiasts have complained in recent years that the green stretching from Capitol Hill to the Lincoln Memorial is overcrowded and can't handle more projects. They point out that Congress has declared the mall a "substantially completed work of civic art."

The Liberty Memorial, its 217-foot tower overlooking downtown, has been a part of the Kansas City landscape since the 1920s.

Construction began in 1921, three years after the Armistice. In attendance were some of the war's leading military figures, such as Marshal Ferdinand Foch of France and Gen. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force and a Missouri native.

Anita Gorman, a memorial trustee, first pitched the idea of Kansas City as the main World War I centennial site to President Bush. He was in town earlier this year for a political fundraiser for Republican Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri.

Gorman and other supporters said that the centennial festivities could help increase understanding of the war's historical impact and aid the city's case for becoming the official World War I memorial site.

"I feel so strongly that this community can do this right," Gorman said. "It seems to me the people around here reflect the values of this country about as well as any place you could find."