Our state’s fallen from WWI deserve a better memorial

For years, it has stood there, forlorn and forgotten, just across from the monument to Confederate soldiers.

But while the Wesley Bolin Plaza memorial honoring Confederate soldiers has attracted plenty of attention, there’s been no outrage over the nearby tribute to the more than 4 million Americans who served in World War I.

It was known as “the war to end all wars,” but I can’t say the same about Arizona’s memorial to mark it. There is nothing inspiring about it, or even notable. And the plaque that once adorned this 6-foot granite marker has been missing for years.

Drop by to contemplate the 116,516 American soldiers who fought and died “over there,” and all you’ll see are two holes where a bronze medallion once was mounted.

It’s been that way for close to a decade, or perhaps longer.

There was talk in 2009 about fixing up the memorial and adding to it, but nothing came of it.

Now, with the 100th anniversary of the war’s end coming next year, the state has decided that something needs to be done.

The Arizona Department of Administration and Department of Veterans Services have applied for a grant from the World War I Centennial Commission’s “100 Cities/100 Memorials” project. The commission is offering matching grants of up to $2,000 apiece to restore World War I memorials.

ADOA spokeswoman Megan Rose told me the state wants to replace the missing brass plaque. After doing some research, an ADOA staffer found a replica of the plaque, which featured a poppy — the flower that came to symbolize the war and remembrance.

It’s a good thing that the state is finally doing something. Or the beginning of a good thing, at least.

Arizona’s memorial to World War I stands mostly as a monument to the fact that we haven’t kept the faith. Not only has the 48-year-old monument fallen into disrepair, there’s just not much to it.

There is nothing to tell the story of the war that marked the first real test of America’s strength as a world power. Nothing to honor the 321 Arizonans killed in action.

The veterans of World War I are long gone now. There is no one left to tell their story. No one to remember. Unless it is us.

Surely, we can find a way to not only repair this memorial, but also add to it as we approach Nov. 11, 2018, the 100th anniversary of the end of the war that changed everything. Surely Arizona can create a monument worthy of those fallen warriors, the ones who inspired poet John McCrae’s haunting words on a Belgian battlefield: We are the dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high!

If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow

In Flanders fields.