WWI RISES IN KANSAS CITY MO. by Sidney Siller Sr., PDC, Department Adjutant For certain, now that the World War I Museum has opened, the era of monuments, memorials, and venues for honoring generations of Americans is signaling that we are about to see the end of future fixtures honoring our heroic icons. The significance of the scheduled opening of the World War I Museum on December 2, 2006 is the most recent of the trend to honor the past in almost the reverse chronological order of events. The Vietnam Memorial preceded the Korean War Memorial; the Korean War Memorial preceded the World War II Memorial. And of course there is our own Disabled For Life Memorial that is getting closer to reality each day. What a contretemps! The WWI Museum is not located in Washington, DC, but in Kansas City, Missouri. In 1926, a 217 foot Liberty Memorial Tower was dedicated by President Calvin Coolidge to "Honor American servicemen who fought in WWI." Among those present at the dedication was former artillery officer Captain Harry S. Truman. The museum is the outgrowth of a $76 million dollar renovation project which was designed to shore up the memorial tower. When excavating the area around the foundation's tower, there was an opportunity to build the WWI Museum for the display of the collection of World War I artifacts. Only about 3% of the more than 49,000 artifacts in this huge collection have ever been displayed. Thousands of these items have been stored in climate controlled caverns in the Kansas City area. Because the articles have been stored carefully, they are in excellent condition. To me, the most heart felt impulse is why we kept the concept of the museum from being built, when there are only 10 known survivors still alive from WWI. The $26.5 million dollar museum is dedicated to telling the story of the conflict that engulfed the world from 1914 - 1918. I know that many of you will tell me that WWII totally eclipsed WWI. Ralph Appelbaum, the museum director said "there wasn't an American household that wasn't effected by World War II." On the other hand, WWI had arguably greater consequences than WWII, setting in motion the events that led to WWII, the Cold War and beyond. Empires and Ruling houses crashed in Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia and Turkey. Revolution in Russia resulted in the world's first communist government. German anger at losing the war helped to create the rise of Adolf Hitler. Finally, the Treaty of Versailles created several cobbled together continues in the Middle East, a territory ruled by the Ottoman Empire. One of those countries was Iraq. History and monuments can tell us what happened. We have to do our part. The rest of the story is up to us. DAVNY Home Page / Hot Topics / Action Line / Join the DAV / Administration / Newsletter Newsletter Archive / Chapters / Events / DAV License Plates / Links of Interest / Send Us E-Mail / Page Last Reviewed/Modified: