World War I and II Memorial, Green Hills Cemetery, Asheville
Owens Brothers Marble and Granite Company, Greenwood, S.C. , Designer
Owens Brothers Marble and Granite Company, Greenwood, S.C. , Builder
The memorial to World War One and World War Two dead is in the form of an exedra of classical Greek design; an exedra being a stone running bench supported by a podium. The podium has a gentle curved top and is supported along with the bench by short granite blocks. The podium, bench and support blocks all rest on a single base. Total height of the structure is approximately 5- feet high and 20-feet long. Incised into the podium’s center at the top is a Gold Star Mothers emblem. To the left of this emblem is the “Prop and Wings” insignia which designated the Army Air Corp during World War II. To the right is the Marine Corps coat of arms. On the left supporting block is the Army coat of arms and on the right block is the Navy coat of arms. Centered in front of the memorial is a single flag pole. The agreement at the time was for the pole to fly the American flag daily with the exception of Confederate Memorial Day.
Images:
Memorial with the flag |
Far-off view |
View of the cemetery
Front: DEDICATED-TO-THE-HEROES [Gold Star Emblem] WHO-DIED-FOR-THEIR-COUNTRY
Front, along base: “ERECTED BY THE BUNCOMBE COUNTY CHAPTER GOLD STAR MOTHERS JULY 10, 1949.”
Green Hills Cemetery
July 10, 1949
35.592530 , -82.597260
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Green Hills Cemetery Association, Inc. "Green Hills Cemetery", greenhillscemeteryasheville.com, (accessed May 9, 2017) Link
“Graham Talks At Dedication of Memorial,” Asheville Citizen-Times (Asheville, NC), July 11, 1949
“Large Crowd Expected To Attend Dedication of War Memorial Today,” Asheville Citizen-Times (Asheville, NC), July 10, 1949
“Sen. Graham Will Speak At Dedication,” Asheville Citizen-Times (Asheville, NC), May 31, 1949
Yes
Winnsboro granite
An estimated 5,000 people were in attendance for an elaborate dedication ceremony with Senator Frank Porter Graham delivering the address. Mrs. W.W. Ballew and W.K. Dalton, current and past presidents of the Gold Star Mother chapter unveiled the memorial. In a speech filled with rhetoric of the Cold War, Graham said the American people should not “allow their well-grounded fear and hatred of the Communist dictatorship to subvert free institutions and change the historic American way of life into totalitarian ways.”
Free-standing, open air, exedra such as the one at Green Hills would likely have supported a bronze portrait statue in Hellenistic times. As in this case they would have been situated in a place considered sacred or an open area in a sanctuary. More typically than exhibited with this example, the podium and seat would have been curved.
The memorial is located in the Memorial Lawn section of Green Hills Cemetery. The cemetery entrance is at 25 New Leicester Highway in Asheville, NC.
The maker is at the top of a green rolling hill lined with trees and grave markers and tombstones laid out below.
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