WASHINGTON — In the near future, Americans parents bringing their children to the nation’s capital on Memorial Day weekend to see the city’s famed monuments and memorials will be able to add another attraction to their sightseeing list.
Not far from the Korean War Veterans Memorial and the National World War II Memorial, the United State World War I Centennial Commission plans to properly recognize a conflict once thought of as “the war to end all wars.”
The non-profit panel officially launched a design competition on Thursday to redevelop the site of the existing Pershing Square Park into a designated WWI national monument.
“It was a war that brought on an American century. It was a war that changed the world for Americans. I think it’s so important for so many reasons that we honor these people,” said retired Col. Rob Dalessandro, chairman of the centennial commission. Before his retirement in 2009, Dalessandro served in a variety of leadership positions in the U.S. Army.
Pershing Square Park is in a plaza just off Pennsylvania Avenue between the Department of Commerce and the historic Willard Hotel, on the edge of downtown Washington. It was erected in 1981 with a statue honoring Gen. John J. Pershing, leader of the American Expeditionary Forces during the Great War, as WWI was called.
“Right now it’s a park that has a memorial element tacked on to it almost as an afterthought,” said Edwin Fountain, vice chairman of the commission. “We would like to make it a site that’s looked at first and foremost as a World War I memorial.”
Fountain said the redesigned Pershing Square Park will be the only national memorial in Washington dedicated to all Americans who served in the Great War, a conflict the U.S. entered in 1917. The existing District of Columbia War Memorial, at another location, is dedicated to of Washington veterans, while Pershing Square memorializes “Black Jack” Pershing and his “doughboys.”
Congress chartered the WWI Centennial Commission in January of 2013 to plan and execute commemorative projects during the war’s centennial period. Fighting broke out in Europe in 1914 and came to an end on Nov. 11, 1918, with Germany’s surrender. Honorary chairmen of the commission include former presidents Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush.
The commission aims to unveil the new memorial on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2018, the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.
Supporters of the Centennial Commission hope to raise $30 million over five years in private donations to support its programming.
According to the competition manual, the design should demonstrate the gravity and scale of the WWI and also “forge functional and perceptual linkages to the pathways, streets and civic spaces and architectural landmarks around the site.”
Competition for a new design will proceed in two stages. Deadline for Stage I submissions – an explanation for the design element and a narrative description of the project — is July 21, 2015. Stage II finalists will be announced on Aug. 4, 2015.
The commission expects to select three to five finalists from the Stage I competition. Each finalist will be awarded a stipend of $25,000 for work on their individual projects in Stage II.
A jury consisting of representatives from government, military, the arts and Washington citizens will evaluate the designs. The commission will then select the winner based on the recommendation of the jury.
Fountain said the commission debated whether to limit the design submissions to U.S. participants, but decided to open it to international competition.
“It does commemorate a major event in world history,” said Fountain. “So we thought it would be important for the competition to have that character. At the same time, there is, to this day, tremendous gratitude in Europe for the role the U.S. played in the war. We wanted to give European designers the opportunity to express their gratitude to the U.S. for our service in the war.”
The 12-member commission making the final decisions includes Army veterans, educators and historians.
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