Commission Vice Chair speaks at NYC "In Flanders Fields" event

By Chris Isleib
Director of Public Affairs, U.S. World War One Centennial Commission

WW1CC Vice Chair Edwin Fountain speaks at the commemoration event in NYC's DeWitt Clinton Park hosted by the Government of Flanders.The U.S. World War I Centennial Commission, the NYC Parks Department, and the Government of Flanders honored local war heroes this week, as part of a series of events organized by the Government of Flanders, Belgium, through the General Delegation in the U.S., to commemorate the Centennial of World War I.

U.S. WW I Centennial Commission Vice Chair Edwin L. Fountain joined NYC Parks Manhattan Borough Commissioner William Castro; President of the Flemish Parliament Hon. Jan Peumans; Chair of the Committee on Foreign Policy Hon. Rik Daems; NYC Department of Veterans’ Services Assistant Commissioner Jamal Othman; United War Veterans Council President Dan McSweeney; relatives of sculptor Burt Johnson; and other dignitaries to place wreaths, and provide remarks, at the historic Clinton War Memorial in De Witt Clinton Park.

Located at the southeast corner of the park, the poignant monument is the work of sculptor Burt W. Johnson and architect Harvey Wiley Corbett. It was commissioned by the Clinton District Association as a memorial to a young man from the neighborhood who died in World War I.

The monument, dedicated in 1930, features a pensive infantryman known as a “Doughboy” holding poppies in his right hand and a rifle slung over his left shoulder. The granite pedestal is inscribed with a verse from John M. McCrae’s famous World War I poem, "In Flanders Field".

Every year around Memorial Day, the General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA honors and remembers all those who fought "In Flanders Fields" during World War I at the memorial sculpture.The Government of Flanders is also providing $10,000 annually, for seven years, to support maintenance of the sculpture and its landscaped setting in De Witt Clinton Park.