America’s forgotten memorial — the time to honor WWI warriors has finally come

Historians and those who teach history have been engaged in a fierce but ultimately academic debate over the nation’s understanding of the root causes and lasting legacies of World War I. Unfortunately, few are listening.

Educators rhetorically ask whether we understand that many of our 21st century political borders and contemporary ethnic blood feuds were created by four years of carnage that scarred the world some 100 years ago. Its legacy also includes the birth of modern civil rights, women’s suffrage, contemporary military technology, and a dominant America that became the world’s feared and respected superpower. That long-ago war has lessons for today’s diplomats and generals as well as students in our classrooms, but our national character traditionally declines to be reflective.

Finding consensus on how to teach, much less what to teach, consumes us on topics far less complex than World War I. Common Core, for example, requires educators to teach to the test if they expect their own careers to advance. World War I is left to be taught with catchphrases, abbreviated narratives and summaries designed to “check the box.” What irony, then, when we consider that paying solemn tribute to those who have fallen in the defense of freedom is part of America’s proud legacy, even if it takes more than a generation to recognize that sacrifice.

{mosads}Since World War I, the conclusion of each conflict that sent our young people off to war has generated a prolonged and inexplicable national debate on where and how and when to honor those who have died in the line of duty. It would take until 1982 for the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., to be dedicated. The Korean War Memorial in the nation’s capital was finally completed in 1995. And it wasn’t until 2004 that the World War II Memorial was opened to the public on the National Mall. 

The World War I Memorial to the millions of Americans who served? One hundred years later, it hasn’t been started.

It would be inconceivable to Gen. Jack Pershing that a century ago he would be told the men under his command would not have a memorial to their sacrifice in the nation’s capital when the centennial of that conflict would finally arrive. Yet that reality overshadows the programs and retrospectives now underway as we study the cause and effect of America’s entry into “The Great War.”

Fortunately some progress has been made in creating a fitting tribute. A design has been approved, a location has been reserved and generous “seed” contributions from benefactors have allowed the World War I Centennial Commission to proceed with their challenge of privately raising the $50 million needed for a memorial. As a result, the commission will host a ceremonial groundbreaking for the National World War I Memorial on Thursday, Nov. 9 at Pershing Park in Washington, D.C., as the nation prepares to observe Veterans Day.

But it begs the larger question: How could we ignore our nation’s sacrifice for so long?

There are no veterans left from World War I. There are no stevedores who loaded the ships at Port Newark, or Detroit workers who made the trucks, seamstresses who sewed the uniforms, or mothers who received word their son wasn’t coming home. Their faces are long gone, their faded photos tucked away in some attic archive, their history perhaps more family legend than fact.

But if the most cynical among us are prepared to say, “At this point, does it really matter if we create a World War I memorial,” then what shall we say to the current generation of American soldiers who are being asked to defend our homes and cities from a threat that is as real and as lethal as 9/11?

If we fail the memories and spurn the legacy of those who died a century ago, will we repeat that dishonor against those who have fought and died in the Gulf, Afghanistan, Iraq? What about those rangers who fell in Niger and wherever democratic values are worth defending? If World War I has one last lesson to teach us, it is that, 100 years later, it is not too late to memorialize every American who has answered their nation’s call, because it is never too late to remember.

Sandy Pershing is an honorary member of the World War I Centennial Commission and is the granddaughter-in-law of Gen. Jack Pershing, who commanded American troops during World War I.