Craig suggests U.S. should run French war memorial

BOISE – During his trips to honor slain American soldiers, U.S. Sen. Larry Craig has seen memorials around the world.

Many are immaculately kept. But one, the Lafayette Escadrille Memorial in Paris, has fallen into disrepair. Now Craig, R-Idaho, the ranking member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, is looking into the possibility of shifting management into the American government’s hands.

“It’s just in the discussion phases, to see if we’re interested in doing that,” Craig said in a phone interview with the Associated Press while visiting the memorial on Saturday. “There’s just considerable outreach now to find a more permanent way to sustain the facilities.”

The trip to Paris was one stop on a tour Craig and other U.S. officials were taking to pay respects to fallen American servicemen and women in Europe. The delegation – which includes U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard and Rep. Doug Lamborn, both from Colorado, and Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson – is expected to make stops in Italy, Luxembourg and Germany this week.

The memorial in Paris honors Americans who flew and fought with the French in World War I, before the United States entered the war. It is managed by the private Lafayette Escadrille Memorial Foundation, but the money for upkeep is running out, Craig said, resulting in “a substantial amount of disrepair.”

The stone monument above the mausoleum where the soldiers are entombed is leaking, Craig said, and the tile work and Tiffany-style windows in the building could stand some upkeep.

Congress recently appropriated $2.1 million to fix the memorial, and the French contributed $1 million. More money is needed, Craig said, though he did not specify how much.

“Any time you have a facility as old as this one, it is a constant maintenance issue,” Craig said. “The foundation is working closely with us, and they’re open to assistance and something that is perpetual in the overall management and maintenance of it.”

It could be a controversial proposal. Though the soldiers were American citizens and are largely credited with helping to create the U.S. Air Force, they were volunteers in the French military, fighting for the French government. If management is shifted to the American Battle Monuments Commission, Congress would also have to appropriate the money needed to take care of the site, Craig said.

“Obviously they haven’t been given the authority to manage the site and they don’t want it unless the money comes with it, because it dilutes the resources they have to manage other memorials,” Craig said.

There’s also the political matter of shifting control of the memorial from a private French foundation to a public American commission, Craig said.

“We have obviously had a change of government in France, and it appears the government here now is considerably more friendly with the U.S. and is interested in outreach to the U.S. following some pretty frosty years,” Craig said. “So that may be an opportunity.”

No matter what entity ends up managing the memorial, Craig said he hopes the site is cared for.

“World War I is only a line in a history book for a lot of people, and World War II – our veterans are rapidly passing on,” he said.

“If we don’t sustain these involvements, we sometimes forget the dedication we have towards freedom.”