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WORLD WAR II EUROPE
MONUMENT 1941-1945
OMRI AMRANY - SCULPTOR
D-DAY The breaking of the
Nazi 'Atlantic Wall' was led by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme
allied commander. At .15hrs 82nd and 101st airborne parachuted from
DC3 aircraft. Following naval/air bombardment, 4th infantry at 6.30hrs
assaulted Utah Beach-liberating Ste-mere Eglise. Also at 6.30hrs (4.30 by
rangers), Omaha Beach was assaulted by 1st, 29th, and 116th infantry
regiment. With rangers 2nd battalion at 5th and La Pointe Du Hoc, they are
remembered for sacrificial heroism.
The Europe Monument is
led with a lone infantryman on Omaha Beach. A bronze radioman' calls to
all the others behind a steel 'hedgehog' he faces 'the dragon's
teeth'.
The World War II Monument
is the topographic peak of the Community Veterans Memorial.
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It expresses new
directions from Europe. The split steel beams represent destruction from
World War I continued in Europe, to the Pacific - pointing to Korea and
Vietnam. The circular motifs symbolize human enforcement on nature or
waves of the sea. Designs are based on modern concepts of repetition to
infinity.
Triangular granite slabs
host laser-etched photos moments on Omaha Beach, horrific destruction at
Monte Cassino, a B-24 Liberator, and Bastogne in the snowy Ardennes. From
concentration camps, images remind us of the terrible 'Holocaust'.
With time's perspective,
what new or old cry might our 'radioman' call out? |
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SOURCES:
Interview with Omri Amrany
D-Day and the Battle of Normandy Editions OREP, 1998, Colonel Gerard
Legout
Cassino the Hollow Victory, John Ellis, McGraw-Hill, 1984
Nuts! The Battle of the Bulge, Goldstein, Dillon and Wenger,
Brassey's, Washington, 1994
U. S. Holocaust Museum, Photo Library, Washington D. C.
VFW National Magazine Photo Archives, Kansas City, Missouri
Images of War - Robert Capa Photos of D-Day |
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All monument descriptions in
the Memorial Gallery are written by Kathleen Van Ella. |
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Would you like to
see additional pictures of work on the Memorial, click
here. |
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