Remembering Plenty, Understanding Little: the Many Elements of the Memorial

The World War II Memorial begins with a small ramp at the far right of the structure. This ramp invites passersby to step off the brick pathway of Memorial Park and into the stone structure. Crossing the threshold is not much of a jump, a few inches at most, suggesting that the installation of the ramp was for disabled people, such as Rhode Island WWII veterans who were senior citizens at the time of the monument’s creation. If they had not been injured during their service, inhibiting their ability to walk, their old age likely hindered their mobility before the memorial even existed. A dedication plaque set into the center of the stone ground introduces visitors to the first of many engravings, a number so high as to be overwhelming.

To either side of this are four contemplative benches: two flanking the left wall and two flanking the right. Each stone bench is inscribed along the front with one of FDR's Four Freedoms referenced in the engraving upon the ground: “Freedom From Fear,” “Freedom From Want,” “Freedom Of Worship,” and “Freedom of Speech.”¹ President Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. (FDR) famously identified these Four Freedoms in the address he delivered to Congress on January 6, 1941, immortalized in the artistic representations painted by Norman Rockwell in 1943.² [include photo Norman_Rockwell_Freedom_of_Speech. Source: Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), “Freedom of Speech,” 1943. Illustration for “The Saturday Evening Post”, February 20, 1943. From the collection of Norman Rockwell Museum.]

Behind the pairs of benches are two granite pylon walls. Each is inscribed with the names of Rhode Islanders who died in WWII. The number totals 2,560.³ Moss grows within the letters. Though the memorial is only fifteen years old, it is unclear who performs its upkeep.

Beneath each list of casualties is a quote: on the left wall, “NO LAPSE OF TIME • NO DISTANCE OF SPACE • SHALL CAUSE YOU TO BE FORGOTTEN”; on the right, “YOURS THE SUFFERING HAS BEEN • THE MEMORY SHALL BE OURS.” This comparison in the second one, between suffering and memory, is, at best, an unfair equivalency to draw. As a viewer, it reads as insensitive to me to use a parallel sentence structure for such vastly different acts with staggeringly unequal consequences.

On my first visit to the memorial, several people experiencing homelessness were camped there. I wished not to disturb them, and so I did not consider these elements as thoroughly as intended. But the second time I went, on a calm Sunday morning, I sat on one of the benches for a little while. Winds blew softly through the trees, and leaves fell upon the stone, a tell-tale sign of fall. I understood the contemplative nature of the benches then.

Behind the colonnade are bushes and other greenery upon a low wall that circles the back of the structure. At the beginning and end of this low wall are the seals of different government agencies. To the left are the seals of the United States Army, United States Air Force, and the United States Coast Guard, followed by an expression of gratitude that reads, "WE ARE GRATEFUL TO THE NINETY SIX THOUSAND RHODE ISLANDERS WHO SERVED OUR NATION DURING THIS CONFLICT" Therefore, this memorial includes both the names of the dead and the total number of Rhode Islanders who served in WWII in some capacity, about 13% of the state population at the time.⁴