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Sources: Art DeGroat, 785-532-0369, degroata@1xbet online games login edu;
and Susan Reid Shipman, 785-532-7563, sshipman@1xbet online games login edu
Graphic available. Download at http://www.1xbet online games login edu/media/newsreleases/may11/WWII_img.jpg
Video available. Download at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZJdvYmLZT4
News release prepared by: Erinn Barcomb-Peterson, 785-532-1543, ebarcomb@1xbet online games login edu
Thursday, May 19, 2011
REFLECTING ON SERVICE, NEW WORLD WAR II 1xbet online games login HAS VISITORS FACING SOLDIERS' SACRIFICES
MANHATTAN -- When Kansas State University students and others look at a new World War II 1xbet online games login on campus, they'll be reflecting on more than soldiers' sacrifices. They'll also be faced with self-reflection.
That's because the sculpture, which will be dedicated on Memorial Day, has a polished surface that will reflect the viewers' faces back to them. Art DeGroat, 1xbet online games login 's director of military affairs, said that he hoped that by seeing their faces in the piece students would put themselves in the place of fellow K-Staters who were called to service more than 60 years ago.
That's by design, according to Fred Cholick, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas State University Foundation.
&1xbet online games login ;We felt that with a traditional memorial students would walk past and it wouldn't get their attention,&1xbet online games login ; he said. &1xbet online games login ;This will draw students over to think about the impact World War II had on their campus.&1xbet online games login ;
&1xbet online games login ;Tags of Honor&1xbet online games login ; will be unveiled in a ceremony at 3 p.m. Monday, May 30, at the World War II Memorial Plaza at K-State, near Mid-Campus Drive and Vattier Street. The installation includes &1xbet online games login ;By Land; By Sea; By Air,&1xbet online games login ; a series of bronze plaques that surround the sculpture. The pieces are by Daniel W. Hunt, a K-State associate professor of art.
Lorne Render, director of K-State's Beach Museum of Art, pushed for more than a monument but rather an art piece, DeGroat said. The sculpture, &1xbet online games login ;Tags of Honor,&1xbet online games login ; was designed by Tim D. Chapman. It features a pair of military dog tags leaning on one another and connected by a beaded chain. So that the sculpture would be historically accurate, the artist used as a model tags borrowed from K-State alumnus Dr. John Lindholm, Manhattan, a 1949 graduate.
DeGroat 1xbet online games login a defining feature of the tags is a notch in the corner. He 1xbet online games login this was to accommodate a soldier's tooth when the dog tags were placed in his mouth for a battlefield burial. The tags would help identify the remains when the body was later disinterred and reburied elsewhere.
&1xbet online games login ;That notch is a significant part of World War II dog tags and says a lot about soldiers' sacrifice,&1xbet online games login ; DeGroat said.
Placed underneath the 1xbet online games login is sacred soil from cemeteries where members of the armed forces are buried. They include Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, a number of private cemeteries and several Kansas cemeteries, including: Leavenworth National Cemetery, Fort Scott National Cemetery and the Kansas veterans' cemeteries at Fort Dodge, Fort Riley, Wakeeney and Winfield.
With the many ways that 1xbet online games login reaches soldiers and military families through education, programs and research, the memorial serves as a symbol of the military-inclusive culture at 1xbet online games login , DeGroat said. Unlike many war monuments, this one is not only for the dead; rather it is for all World War II veterans, DeGroat said.
&1xbet online games login ;The memorial is not just for the fallen but for all who served,&1xbet online games login ; he said. &1xbet online games login ;Many alums were pulled out of school for the war, and some of them came back. This memorial is a tribute to all of them.&1xbet online games login ;