The Community Veterans Memorial

Omri Amrany - Sculptor

"For freedom's sake, he is no longer free...
to banish was he must a warrior be..."

"The Peacemaker" by Joyce Kilmer
The last poem by an American solder
before falling in France, 1918

WORLD WAR I, "The Great War", was the United State's introduction to a century of conflict. The Scale of battle, the clash of men and machine, resulted in unprecedented casualties.

The monument, set against the landscape of the times, is an artistic movement of images and materials: stone, military artifact, rubble, rose, dogwood and onion bulb. The arch, symbolic of a passing European Age, invites us to view the human experience of that war.

Laser-etched photographs are presented under the pensive eyes of President Woodrow Wilson. The montage presents scenes of trench warfare and the aerial dogfight. A hero's parade welcomes the "doughboys" home. A machine gun, flame thrower and gas mask reveal war technology of the period. A dead cavalry horse, a helmet and discarded cannon, bear witness to the tragedy. The massive concrete beams, symbolizing destruction, point unremittingly to World War II.

Omri Amrany - Sculptor

The curving cement enfolding us suggests the archetypal Great Mother. She stretches out her arms and yearns with her hands. Set on repetitive cycles of granite, she exemplifies forces, personal and societal, which supported the troops overseas. Poetic words of wisdom by many women appear on the sweep of her garment. She is the home front.

At the center, a young woman, in bronze, looks out to the city. A bandana protects her hair. As the mythic Rosie the Riveter, she symbolizes new opportunities for women in industry.

Above Rosie are hand written letters, emotional messages to and from soldiers, sailors, mothers, sisters, and lovers. Newsreels, newspapers, radio and V-Mail provided information...

"My dearest Ray ... I get so lonesome sometimes, but you know me, I work hard till I get over it"... Dodie (South Bend)

The war involved everyone on the home front. War production was the biggest job ever. Everyone knew sacrifice: we rationed consumables, saved scrap metal and fats, bought war bonds and grew victory gardens. We feared the Western Union telegram. We prayed. When it was over, the home lights were burning again.

Omri Amrany - Sculptor

The Allied Forces Landing on This Shore Which They Called Omaha Beach, Liberate Europe - June 6, 1944

The Europe Monument is led with a lone infantryman; It is "D-Day" on Omaha Beach. A bronze radioman is making a call. Behind a steel "hedgehog", he faces "the dragon's teeth" before the Nazi's Atlantic Wall. This monument is the topographic peak of Memorial Park. It expresses new directions from Europe. The split steel beams represent destruction from World War I, continued in Europe, to the Pacific, pointing to Korea and Vietnam. The circular motifs symbolize human enforcement on nature or waves of the sea. Designs are based on modern concepts of repetition to infinity.

Triangular granite slabs host laser-etched photographs of moments on Omaha Beach, the ruined Monte Cassino, a B24 Liberator, snowy Bastogne and the "Holocaust" of the concentration camps.

With Time's perspective, what might the radioman call out?

Julie Rotblatt - Amrany - Sculptor

Honor and patriotism are feelings evoked by the 10-foot high granite map of Vietnam. Repetitive images bring memories of deployment, involvement with local Vietnamese, jungles, rice paddies and marshland; we remember the reality of war, death and prayer. Overall is the official remembrance of POW-MIAs - you are not forgotten. As helicopters approach, an American and a South Vietnamese soldier gaze upward to the Flag.

The Huey was the workhorse and symbol of the Vietnam War. The UH-1 helicopter was a transport, an ambulance and a gunship. As a gunship, it led the assault.


A sculpture incorporates a tripod of three M-16s sprouting daises. The M-16 was standard issue in Vietnam; the daises reflect a simple hope for peace.

An Army Nurse comforts and administers aid to a wounded Marine. Entwined in banana leaves, they become part of a dense landscape. Hidden in leaves, two Hospital Corpsmen administer field aid.

A Buddhist temple rests in ruin. The three doors of the temple are rich in meaning from Buddhism's 3,000 - year history in Vietnam. The general destruction of the site exudes the reality of war.

A Soldier's Sacrifice
Silhoutte Man

Julie Rotblatt - Amrany - Sculptor

Empty...

that is one possible feeling arising out of combat and war. Our soldier is on his feet, but the spirit is stolen. He is a silhouette in steel. His body is hollowed - a gateway that others might go through. His emptiness is quiet ground, a ground for a transformational impetus, a higher plane. The answer must be more. At the soldier's feet, lay a mound of shoes, helmets and other reminders of lost friends, spent in the vast endeavor. They are not known. They are unknown. A mark of all the unknown solders, as the memories of all the years and all the battles, however just or necessary blow through. The answer must be more... Could it be, no more war? Peace? but how? One answer might be quite simply,

Remember Me.

The Future Monument

Julie Rotblatt - Amrany - Sculptor

A little boy in bronze freezes these last reflections. He faces the shattered frame of a steel window. Physically and metaphorically, he knows and faces his past. He carries with him precious remnants - his father's uniform and dog tags. He is deeply proud. He will not forget.

The child gazes through another kind of window, with an imaginary view of the vast future, thoughtfully envisioned as a field of flowers. Surely this garners hope.

After walking the path of the 20th century, feeling its sad and repetitive violence, one might feel that hope is rather dim.

However, just at this moment, hope itself becomes real and human.

WE AMERICANS cherish our deep commitment to freedom.

WE AMERICANS have fought hard battles for freedom.

WE AMERICANS hold out hope to line in peace.

This monument presents the little child as the threshold to the future, calling and challenging the youthful, courageous spirit within us. The field of flowers is named THE PEACE GARDEN. May all of us find a way to hope and to plant that garden.