The National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, is reportedly almost out of money and may have to close later this year. A Virginia congressman has introduced legislation to "bring the Memorial under the supervision of the National Park Service." Is an NPS bailout the right answer?
Here's some background information:
In the 1990s a Virginia veteran proposed a memorial to honor one of the first units to land at Omaha Beach on D-Day. Initial plans were simple, perhaps a life-size bronze statue.
After a slow start, the project got a boost with the donation of a tract of land near the small town of Bedford, Virginia. Why Bedford? According to the National D-Day Memorial Foundation, the community had lost more men on D-Day, per capita, than any other town in America. Although there's been occasional debate about that claim, there's no doubt the area lost a significant number of its citizens to the war.
The 50th anniversary of D-Day in 1994 brought a resurgence of interest in World War II, fueled in part by the recognition that members of The Greatest Generation would not be with us much longer. Boosters of a memorial in Bedford campaigned for congressional recognition of their project as the "official" national D-Day memorial.
Such congressional designation of national memorials funded either wholly or in part by private groups is not unusual, and is in fact part of an effort to limit the number of such sites in the nation's capital.
Congress sanctioned the National D-Day Memorial, with management and fund raising to be handled by a foundation. The project scored a major coup when President George W. Bush agreed to take part in the memorial's dedication on June 6, 2001, but major problems were looming behind the scene.
By the time the memorial was dedicated in 2001, the scope of the project had expanded far beyond the original concept to include gardens, plazas, multiple sculptures, pools and a waterfall. An arch 44 feet 6 inches high represents June 6, 1944, the date of the invasion. A 2001 press release from the U. S. Forest Service notes the memorial uses
360 tons of green granite quarried in the Superior National Forest, Minn., to form the memorial’s 40-foot high “Victory Arch,” and tons more of the striking granite were used to fashion a life-size landing craft and other features of the memorial.
Based on photos and written descriptions, the memorial is impressive. It was also expensive.
According to media reports, the cost of the project grew from the announced $17 million to $25 million, and dedicated volunteers at the Foundation were stunned to learn that the effort was $7 million in debt. Federal fraud charges filed against the former president of the foundation resulted in a hung jury—and local debate about the motives of the prosecutor and the foundation official.
New leadership has succeeded in erasing the debt, but the combination of publicity from those woes, the steady decline in number of WWII vets, and the current national economic downturn has created some serious funding problems.
An AP story got wide circulation earlier this week under the title, "National D-Day Memorial on brink of financial ruin;" revenue from visitors reportedly provides less than a third of the $2 million annual operating costs.
It's too soon to know if media coverage of the latest financial crisis will help or hinder fund raising, which brings us to Plan B.
Earlier this week, a press release from the office of Congressman Tom Perriello (D-VA) announced that he had
...introduced legislation in the House that would start the process of bringing the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia under the supervision of the National Park Service. The legislation was written in consultation with the Memorial, which recently reported that it does not have enough money to sustain operations. Congressman Perriello has been working with Senator Mark Warner, who intends to introduce companion legislation in the Senate.
This bill (H.R. 2689) authorizes "the Secretary of the Interior to study the suitability and feasibility of designating the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford, Virginia, as a unit of the National Park System."
There's no doubt the memorial is an impressive and well-intentioned tribute to a large group of Americans who made the supreme sacrifice. Whether an effort begun as a private project should now be bailed out by the taxpayers provides plenty of fodder for debate.
As a veteran and the son of a WWII vet, I'm all for proper recognition of military service. However, it's worth asking how many different memorials to WWII should be funded by the NPS, especially if further dilution of already inadequate agency funds would be required to operate yet another addition to the system.
The NPS is currently responsible for the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, which
honors the service of sixteen million members of the Armed Forces of the United States of America, the support of countless millions on the home front, and the ultimate sacrifice of 405,399 Americans.
Another WWII memorial seems to have some duplication with the Bedford effort. The National WWII Museum in New Orleans was founded in 1991. According to the group's website,
The Museum, which opened on June 6, 2000, is the only museum in the United States that addresses all of the amphibious invasions or "D-Days" of World War II, honoring the more than one million Americans who took part in this global conflict...The National World War II Museum's exhibits encompass the June 6, 1944 invasion of Normandy, the Home Front during WWII and the D-Day Invasions in the Pacific.
Dedicated in 2000 as The National D-Day Museum and now designated by Congress as the country’s official museum of the Second World War, it celebrates the American Spirit, the teamwork, optimism, courage and sacrifice of the men and women fought on the battlefront and the Home Front.
How is this museum funded?
The National World War II Museum is a private non-profit institution. We have received federal, state and private funds for initial construction and the ongoing Road to Victory Expansion.
The amount of "federal and state" funds provided to the museum is not readily apparent. According to news reports, the D-Day Memorial in Virginia also received several million dollars in matching funds from the state, so perhaps that question is a wash.
Yet another privately-funded WWII Museum, The National Museum of the Pacific War, focuses on a different aspect of the story: the story of the Pacific Theater battles of World War II. It is located in Fredericksburg, Texas—the birthplace of Chester Nimitz, "one of the most respected leaders of the Pacific campaign of World War II."
No wonder that the supply of donor money for WWII-related projects is a bit stretched.
Today is the 65th anniversary of the D-Day Landing, and that historic event will be recognized in many locations, in the U.S., in France, and other locations around the world. What role a memorial in Bedford, Virginia, will have in similar commemorations in future years is yet to be determined.
Comments
American tax dollars are extorted to finance 'Holocaust Museums' across the U.S., but we can't find enough tax dollars to finance the National D-Day Memorial to honor the brave, patriotic Americans who died to preserve our freedom. Have we no shame? At long last have we no decency. Holocaust Museums should be in the European countries that were hostile to Jews. Americans liberated Jews and should not be compelled to finance 'Holocaust Museums". Israel receives ten million American tax dollars per day while many American veterans have to be place on a waiting list to get into a VA Hospital Is this justice for the brave men who fought, sacrificed and died America?
You brought up some really good points Dan AND...offered suggestions such as ABMC taking this site under its wing. It's true that all the ABMC cemeteries and all but two memorials are out of the country. This will be the third stateside memorial joining the West Coast (San Francisco) and East Coast (New York City) memorials that they maintain.
While this invasion was going on in France, our Marines and soldiers had already taken Guadalcanal and, I believe, Tarawa. Our Navy had already punched Japan in the nose with Doolittle's attack on Tokyo and stopping Yamamoto at Midway was pretty much as important an accomplishment in the Pacific as D-Day was itself.
I have had the privilege of walking among those heroes' graves at Normandy, Lorraine, Belleau Wood, Luxembourg, Meuse-Argonne, Flanders Field, Margraten and Liege, BE near Bastogne.
If it were in my power, I'd pay for this myself for I am a 1st generation American...thanks to the liberation of my father's village in the Philippines by the 40th Infantry Division.
I traveled to the D Day memorial yesterday. My dad served in WWII and died on Memorial Day this year. He never spoke of the war. He operated anti-aircraft generators at the top of the cliffs, after thousands of lives were lost. When I arrived I had no idea what operation Overlord was, and a tearful woman told me. The water blasts that are part of the beach scene had a chilling effect on me. I will write my congressman to support the effort for this to become a National Park.