Veterans Up In Arms Location Of World War Ii Memorial Controversial

Both World War II and Vietnam veterans are angry over a plan to place a World War II memorial near an existing Vietnam Memorial on a grassy triangle near the state Capitol.

The World War II memorial was designed for an open area south and east of the General Administration Building and northeast of the domed Capitol.

But Gov. Mike Lowry, Lt. Gov. Joel Pritchard and Public Lands Commissioner Jennifer Belcher, acting as the State Capitol Committee, have rejected the memorial site, saying too much green space would be lost. They told sponsors to redesign the memorial and place it near the Vietnam Memorial.

“It will take away from both memorials,” said George Edmundson of Sedro Woolley, Wash., president of the state chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America. “World War II was the most significant event of the 20th century, and it deserves its own place. They (the Capitol committee) arbitrarily violated the wishes of every veterans service organization in the state.”

“It was a slap in the face to both World War II veterans and Vietnam veterans,” said Dan Gogerty of Allen, Wash., chairman of the Veterans Legislative Coalition and state legislative officer for the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The artist, Simon Kogan of Olympia, told The Columbian newspaper of Vancouver he would not redesign the work in deference to the wishes of veterans groups.

Belcher said none of the three Capitol committee members has problems with the design - only with the loss of view and open space.

“Our job was to look at the original Capitol campus design and retain the integrity of that,” she said. “It was intended to have a large, sweeping open space.”

Lowry spokesman Jordan Dey also said the concern was loss of green space.

He said the proposed site next to the Vietnam Memorial is “appropriate” and that the governor “has to take into account the concerns of everyone in the state,” not just veterans.

Some veterans are so incensed that they recently took out quarter-page ads in Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia newspapers to assail the committee. They hope the decision will be reversed by Lowry’s and Pritchard’s successors, Gov.-elect Gary Locke and Lt. Gov.-elect Brad Owen.

Owen has promised to vote to reverse the decision.

“This memorial was long overdue, and it is a shame the matter was dealt with in such a cavalier fashion,” said Bill Merifield of Shelton, Wash., a retired lieutenant colonel and World War II veteran who was a member of the memorial committee. “We’re all in our 70s. If it’s not built soon, we won’t be around to see it.”

State Rep. Don Benton, R-Pleasant Valley, tried to correct that oversight in his first year in the Legislature. Benton, son of a veteran who fought in the Normandy invasion, introduced a bill last year creating a World War II memorial committee and granting $50,000 to get the project going.

Last summer, 51 years after the war ended, the site and design had been selected, a $500,000 private fund-raising drive was launched and the memorial seemed to be on its way to reality.

But the State Capitol Committee, which has final authority on Capitol campus matters, refused to approve the memorial plan, saying it would encroach on green space and view.

A flat, grassy site had been selected and approved by the Capitol Campus Design Advisory Committee last year. But on Sept. 30, the State Capitol Committee ordered that the artist redesign the memorial for placement on a triangle of grass occupied by the Vietnam Memorial.

About 155,000 World War II veterans live in Washington state.