As World War One centennial nears, fight erupts over memorial

[ellisonz]

The Liberty Memorial Tower soars above the National World War One Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, February 24, 2012. REUTERS/Dave Kaup

By Kevin Murphy | Reuters – Mon, Mar 5, 2012

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Back in 1926, nobody balked when President Calvin Coolidge dedicated Kansas City's towering Liberty Memorial as the national memorial to the First World War.

But as the 100th anniversary of the beginning of "the Great War" approaches in 2014, a tussle has broken out between Kansas City and Washington, D.C. over which city should be the site of the nation's "official" World War One memorial.

In 2004, Congress voted to designate the Kansas City memorial as the official museum, but late last year support emerged for having the memorial on the National Mall in the nation's capital.

A bill designating both locations as national memorials has also stalled, delaying fundraising for the U.S. observation of the approaching centennial.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/world-war-one-centennial-nears-fight-erupts-over-193127471.html

I favor Kansas City, I think it's an appropriate place and Washington D.C. doesn't need another memorial service that people will just forget.

[charlie and algernon]

1. I'm fine keeping the WW 1 memorial in Kansas City. What we NEED is a Nat'l Civil War memorial.

I don't get how the bloodiest, most costly war in American History still doesn't have a National Memorial.

[ellisonz]

2. I think it's a question...

...of whether we call it "The Civil War" or the "War of Northern Aggression"

[zipplewrath]

3. Lincoln Memorial

Quite honestly, there are a number of places that may already fill that bill. The entire Gettysburg area comes to mind. And really, I'd hesitate to even attempt one in the current political climate. You can imagine flag based controversies would abound. Heck, just what to call it would be a huge political football.

Were you thinking DC for this memorial? Appomattox comes to mind. So does Fort Sumter. Bull Run, Manassas, Gettysburg all come to mind as well.