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IN MEMORIAM
Boston’s war memorials recognize the
honored dead by Josh B. Wardrop
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ROBERT GOULD SHAW AND THE 54th
MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT MEMORIAL: Erected on Boston
Common in 1897, this monument honors the first all-black
regiment of soldiers recruited to fight for the Union Army in
the Civil War. Shaw was the white colonel who perished with his
men during an 1863 attack on Fort Wagner, S.C. The regiment was
later immortalized in the 1989 film Glory starring Denzel
Washington and Matthew Broderick. |
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SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR MEMORIAL:
Located on the third floor of the State House, this memorial
features a statue of former Governor Roger Walcott (1896–1900)
backed by a group of murals commemorating Massachusetts’
participation in several wars, including the Spanish-American
War. Wolcott was a huge booster of that war, devoting $500,000
of state money to the effort and ensuring that Massachusetts
troops were the first to serve on the battlefield. |
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NEW ENGLAND HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL:
Not all victims of war are soldiers, a lesson driven home most
horrifically during World War II, when the Nazis took the lives
of millions of Jews. In 1995, an effort by a group of
concentration camp survivors resulted in the erection of six,
54-foot-high glass towers in Carmen Park in downtown Boston near
Faneuil Hall. Engraved on the towers are six million numbers,
reflecting the people murdered in the Holocaust. |
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KOREAN WAR MEMORIAL: This
memorial honoring soldiers from South Boston who fought and died
in Korea from 1950–1955 is located on Castle Island at Fort
Independence. Twenty names are engraved on the memorial, and the
left flagpole is dedicated to Leonard Moran, who died heroically
during a training exercise accident following his service in
Korea. Located at William J. Day Blvd., South Boston; call
617-268-5744. |
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MEMORIAL CHURCH: The walls
of Memorial Church at Harvard Yard feature engravings to Harvard
alumni killed in battle. The church was originally dedicated on
Armistice Day in 1932 to Harvard and Radcliffe College alumni
who died during World War I. As the decades passed, memorials
have been added reflecting Harvard casualties from World War II,
Korea and Vietnam. Located in Cambridge at Harvard Yard, across
from Widener Library; call 617-495-5508. |
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