California V

Those of you who follow this blog will remember that in July (7/29/11) and August (8/18/11) I wrote extensively about a memorial created by Tom Schomberg and later commissioned and placed by Tom Kane. The initial placement, you will recall, was at a church in Denver and later in Ireland to commemorate the visit by the traveling Wall.

I promised, at the time, to tell more of the story at a later time. Well, I have now visited the third and final placement of this beautiful and haunting memorial.

The National POW Memorial is located in the National Cemetery at Riverside, California. Located about 70 miles east of Los Angeles, this astoundingly beautiful site is, also, the home of the last of three memorials commissioned by Tom Kane.

The following pictures are of these two remarkable visions from our war; the lost soldier and a POW. Those of us who were lucky enough to survive, no matter our difficulties, must always remember these heroes. I will post additional photos of the POW memorial, next time, on the 9th of December, as always, at 9:00am

The cemetery is located at Harmon and Van Buren in Riverside and is extremely beautiful and worth a visit if you are in the area.

New Hampshirw VIII

On the way back to Manchester Airport, we passed this small memorial site. I took some pics and we headed home. I either never noted what town we were in or have completely forgotten. I figured this site was lost to me as I had no info to give on it. I spent hours trying to track it down on the net and even retracing my route on Google maps, hoping to find it from their photos. Nothing. I asked friends in New Hampshire and they were unable to pinpoint it for me.

Then, I realized that there was a name of a company on one of the benches. I looked up the name and discovered that it was a company in Massachusetts. I wrote them with very little hope of anyone there being able to help or that they would even respond. Well, within 10 minutes of my email, someone from the company called me. He explained that the memorial was in a town called Enfield. He said that the CEO of the company was from Enfield and wanted to do something. He designed the site and the company helped to pay for it. So, I went from believing that I would never find the info I needed to having a complete story in 15 minutes! Amazing! This journey I am on never ceases to astound me. The story just seems to unfold and I get to be the guy to tell it!

Next, I am going to move on from New Hampshire and pick up across country in California. You may recall the post about Tom Schomberg's memorial in Denver (July/Aug 2011) that lead to Ireland and back. I want to fill in some additional information in that story. So, join me next in The Golden State on November 9th as always, at 9am.

Colorado VI

Most of you know that I do not use anyone's name in my writing, but I make an exception today as I post these additional thoughts about these sites. I have received permission from all involved to use their names and, in this case, a photograph.

I received a nice email today from Tom Schomberg, the sculptor of the Denver memorial I wrote about a couple of posts back (see 7/29/11). He wanted me to be sure to give proper credit to Tom and Judy Kane, the folks who commissioned the memorials. He explained that Tom Kane had been a Marine pilot in 'Nam and that without his deep commitment and understanding of the needs of vets, the memorial might never have been placed. If he had never placed the one in Denver it is easy to see that the ones in Riverside National Cemetery in California and Adare Manor in Ireland would also have never been possible.

I have just recently exchanged a number of emails with Tom (Kane) and he sent me a lot of information about the dedication of the memorial in Ireland. As I mentioned in the previous post, the Schomberg memorial was to be placed in honor of the visit of the Traveling Wall to Ireland. A number of Irish citizens were lost fighting for the US in 'Nam. The families of the 16 known Irish casualties were invited to Adare Manor and 65 members from 12 of the families were able to attend. In addition, a number of Americans, including the Schombergs and Jan Scruggs (VVMF) were able to attend, too. Bertie Ahearn, the Taoiseach* (Irish Prime Minister) attended, gave the opening remarks and spent two full days with the families and visitors. So, it is with the utmost gratitude and respect that I salute Tom and Judy Kane for their commitment, generosity and, through these memorials, service to all vets.

The picture posted here is the first one I have ever posted that I did not take myself. It was taken by Tom Kane and is used with his permission. I will get to Ireland and photograph the memorial myself sometime in the not too distant future (I hope), but until that time I wanted you to see this magnificent site. I was actually at Adare in the mid 90's, before either memorial was placed. I was struck, at the time, by its elegant beauty and now the addition of this haunting tribute only adds to my love of this ancient (and now sacred) place.

Although he is adamant that the memorial be the focus of this effort, not Adare Manor, Tom and his wife, Judy, have refurbished the site and made it into a first class resort. It is located on many acres of beautiful Irish countryside and you can find more information here;

http://www.adaremanor.com/

In case I failed to mention it previously, Tom Schomberg is also the sculptor of the War Dog memorial at Fort Benning, Georgia, and Riverside, in addition to the "Rocky" statue at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

You can visit Tom's studio to see these and many other of his great works here;

http://www.schombergstudios.com/

* Taoiseach is Gaelic and is pronounced Teesha, at least that is as close as I can come!!