Legionnaire fights for WW I memorial

Thomas Kouyeas, past commander of The American Legion's Department of the District of Columbia, wants the U.S. government to take better care of the only World War I memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. Only a stone's throw from the far grander World War II national memorial, the granite rotunda - bearing the names of 487 Americans who died in battle - sits neglected on the 90th anniversary of the Great War's end.

"It should be a shining example - a shrine in the District of Columbia that all the citizens should be very proud of," Kouyeas says. "But the National Park Service doesn't even have the D.C. War Memorial on their list of places to visit. To this day, I don't see any signs pointing visitors in its direction."

Since 1976, Kouyeas has served as chairman of the D.C. World War I Memorial and May Day Corporation. He and his associates generate public and media interest in the war monument at the mall, and organize annual ceremonies on the third Sunday in May. He says the Legion has conducted memorial services there since 1936, to honor the 26,000 men and women from D.C. who served in World War I and to remember those who fell in battle.

In November 1931, the D.C. War Memorial's life officially began with great fanfare. President Herbert Hoover made the dedication, and Gen. John "Blackjack" Pershing also appeared at the well-attended ceremony. The Marine Corps Band played there, conducted by John Philip Sousa. The dedication was broadcast coast-to-coast over the radio.

But it's been mostly downhill since then. Over the years, nature and the elements took their toll on the rotunda. "Several years ago, there was a lot of soil and residue that settled on the dome," Kouyeas says. "And plants - even small trees - started growing on the roof."

In 2007, The American Legion passed a resolution at its National Convention in Reno, Nev., urging the National Park Service to place the WW I memorial at the top of its repair list, and to "maintain this place of honor in perpetuity." Kouyeas, who belongs to American Legion Post 38 in Washington, doesn't think the Legion, by itself, "would be able to wield sufficient force behind such a project. It has to be a coalition of other organizations drawn into this to have an impact."

Kouyeas emphasizes that the federal government - specifically, the National Park Service - needs to get involved in restoring the World War I memorial to its previous grandeur. Highlighting the venerable rotunda in brochures and promotional material would be a good start. "Once we get that into the programs for sight-seeing tours, I think we might get more attention," Kouyeas says.

One American veteran from World War I still survives: 107-year-old Frank W. Buckles of Charles Town, W. Va. He was honored at a June 18 ceremony in the U.S. Capitol, attended by Sens. Robert Byrd, Bob Dole, John Warner and other luminaries. A story about Buckles is included in the November issue of The American Legion Magazine (see link below).

The full text of the Legion's resolution on the World War I memorial in Washington follows:

EIGHTY-NINTH NATIONAL CONVENTION OF THE AMERICAN LEGION

RENO, NEVADA

August 28, 29, 30, 2007

Resolution No. 178: District of Columbia World War I Memorial

Origin: Convention Committee on Credentials and Other Internal Matters (Section II) Submitted by: Convention Committee on Credentials and Other Internal Matters (Section II)

WHEREAS, There is not a National Memorial honoring the veterans of or those who paid the supreme sacrifice during World War I in Washington, DC; and

WHEREAS, A District of Columbia (DC) WWI Memorial was authorized by Congress in 1924 and dedicated by President Herbert Hoover and General John J. Pershing on Armistice Day 1931; and

WHEREAS, The DC World War I Memorial, a white marble Peristyle Dorie Temple Structure standing in a grove of trees, is located in West Potomac Park on the National Mall near the World War II Memorial; and

WHEREAS, Due to a lack of maintenance and upkeep, the DC WWI Memorial is deteriorating as the result of water damage and other environmental factors; and

WHEREAS, The World War I Memorial is now the responsibility of the National Park Service; and

WHEREAS, The American Legion, founded by the veterans of World War I, firmly believes the DC World War I Memorial is a prominent cultural resource much deserving of overall repair and historic preservation; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That The American Legion in National Convention assembled in Reno, Nevada, August 28, 29, 30, 2007, That The American Legion strongly urges the National Park Service to place the District of Columbia World War I Memorial at the top of its list of priorities for repair and maintenance; and, be it finally

RESOLVED, That The American Legion without financial obligation ensure that adequate attention is given to this issue until such time as the badly needed work on the Memorial is accomplished, and the National Park Service has a plan in place to maintain this place of honor in perpetuity.

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