The Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association
The Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association
The Graybeards - Korean War Veterans Association
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R. Allan Christianson, the architect<br />
of the Memorial, in submitting<br />
his winning design of the<br />
Memorial in a national competition<br />
conducted in 1994, best<br />
described the concept of the<br />
Memorial as follows:<br />
American servicemen and<br />
women braved violent combat<br />
in Korea. <strong>The</strong> Nation suffered<br />
great losses in the <strong>War</strong><br />
and spiritual anguish in its<br />
aftermath. Friends parted,<br />
lives were uprooted, futures<br />
were transformed; many died<br />
or were injured. We now join<br />
together to understand, to<br />
honor, to heal and to look<br />
ahead.<br />
In Korea, each serving<br />
brought their own experience;<br />
their uniqueness, their<br />
dreams into peril. With each<br />
soldier the nation risked a part<br />
of itself. Many thousands,<br />
each with their own signature<br />
on life, united for freedom.<br />
This Memorial intends to<br />
symbolize and express the life<br />
spirit of those who served,<br />
directly and indirectly, in the<br />
<strong>Korean</strong> <strong>War</strong>. It is a reflection,<br />
in part, of just one who<br />
served. It is meant to signal<br />
remembrance of the breadth<br />
and pulse of their identity.<br />
And, it is a marker for the<br />
array of human qualities nurtured<br />
by the freedom we protect.<br />
This Memorial is positioned<br />
and shaped to capture sunlight.<br />
As the sun travels the<br />
horizon, columns of light articulate,<br />
sequentially, aspects of<br />
human spirit, experience and<br />
feeling. Through solid and<br />
void, light and shadow, the<br />
sun traces a spectrum of individual<br />
and shared experience.<br />
It is hoped this Memorial<br />
will become a welcome place;<br />
that it can evoke memory,<br />
emotion and vision through<br />
the eyes of each visitor. It is<br />
meant to be very personal.<br />
Pennsylvania Remembers<br />
Ed Stevens founded the <strong>Korean</strong> <strong>War</strong><br />
<strong>Veterans</strong> <strong>Association</strong> of Western PA, Gen.<br />
Matthew Ridgway Chapter of which he’s<br />
president.<br />
Although Defense Department records<br />
showed more than 41,000 <strong>Korean</strong> <strong>War</strong> veterans<br />
in southwestern Pennsylvania - more<br />
than 26,000 of them in Allegheny County<br />
alone - “<strong>The</strong>re was no roster, I had to find<br />
them the best way I could.” says Ed Stevens.<br />
Word of mouth has been effective enough<br />
that the association now has almost 500<br />
members. It meets monthly at Soldiers and<br />
Sailors Memorial Hall, Oakland, where he is<br />
a member of the boards of directors and managers.<br />
In 1993, Stevens founded the <strong>Korean</strong> <strong>War</strong><br />
<strong>Veterans</strong> of Western Pennsylvania Memorial<br />
Fund, of which he also is president, to raise<br />
money for a tangible tribute to the more than<br />
5.7 million Americans involved directly or<br />
indirectly in the war.<br />
<strong>The</strong> city donated the site, which was dedicated<br />
July 27. R. Allan Christianson of<br />
Bordentown, NJ, won a national competition<br />
with a design that includes; A veterans wall<br />
about 180 feet long of polished black granite.<br />
It will contain the names of the 906 service<br />
personnel from 16 western Pennsylvania<br />
counties who died during the war and about<br />
800 plaques bought by individuals and each<br />
<strong>The</strong> Pensylvania <strong>Korean</strong> <strong>War</strong> <strong>Veterans</strong> Memorial.<br />
inscribed with the name of a veteran not necessarily<br />
a <strong>Korean</strong> <strong>War</strong> veteran - and his or her<br />
military history.<br />
A flag plaza with four poles. One 25-foot<br />
pole will fly the state flag, another the<br />
POW/MIA flag. One 30-foot pole will fly<br />
Old Glory, and another will be what Stevens<br />
termed “an all-nations flagpole.” <strong>The</strong> South<br />
<strong>Korean</strong> flag will fly from it Tuesday.<br />
Subsequently, the flag can be that of any<br />
nation.<br />
Page 16<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Graybeards</strong>