Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990 TAG: 9004080160
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BEN BEAGLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
These men included seasoned infantrymen of the 1st Division - the Big Red One - and the untried National Guard soldiers of the 29th Infantry Division - the Blue and the Gray.
Western Virginia's 116th Infantry Regiment of the 29th landed on Omaha Beach June 6, 1944. It was D-day, the invasion of Normandy, which led to the invasion of Nazi Germany.
Once ashore, the 116th was almost mowed over by German fire from the Normandy cliffs. Men from Bedford and Roanoke were in the first wave on Omaha. More than 40 men from both communities died on the beach. Other Western Virginians died there, including men from Lynchburg and Staunton.
The 2,500 men of the 116th suffered 800 dead and wounded that day.
The Roanoke-based National D-day Foundation, which says that the city's close ties with the 116th make it the ideal place for a national memorial, has run into some difficulties with the mountain site.
The foundation recently chose Mill Mountain over several sites in the city, including the City Market, Lee Plaza and Elmwood Park. One problem is a study made more than 25 years ago that suggested that a restaurant and lodge be built as part of the future development of the mountain.
A consultant hired by the city is doing another study of the mountain, including the memorial proposal. A report is due in 60 to 90 days. In the meantime, slightly edgy members of the foundation say they cannot get on with raising money for the memorial until they secure a site.
Bill Bagbey, the foundation's chairman, said nothing has been done about the plans for a restaurant and lodge for years.
Although the foundation believes the Mill Mountain site to be ideal, Bagbey said, the monument can be put up elsewhere. Bedford County is a possibility.
"All of us would be excited about having that World War II monument in the city of Roanoke," said Mayor Noel Taylor. But there are other, newer plans that have to be considered by the consultant, Taylor said.
The mayor said there has been talk of rebuilding the old inclined railway to the top of the mountain, which would create an interesting journey up the mountain to eat at a restaurant.
There is the possibility of expanding the Mill Mountain Zoo, which would take up more land on the mountain, Taylor said. "With so many items of importance" being mentioned, city officials feel that the consultant should make a newer study for use of the mountain, he said.
Bob Slaughter, tall and agile, hardly looking 65, was on Mill Mountain recently. At 19, he had waded onto Omaha Beach and survived.
Slaughter, a member of the foundation, says the mountain is the perfect place for a national memorial to the men of all services who fought at Normandy.
Slaughter and other members of the foundation said they have assured Roanoke officeholders that a sculpture honoring the men of Normandy will not be abstract. The foundation, Bagbey said, is interested in a lifelike, heroic, even emotional statue. It would be done in bronze.
"We're not going to put any twisted railroad tracks up there," Bagbey said.
Aside from a statement in a recent brochure putting the cost at more than $4 million, there is no firm cost estimate for the memorial. In the brochure, the foundation said it has been assured by a national fund-raiser that it can come up with the money needed for the memorial.
But the fund-raising hasn't started yet.
The land the foundation wants stretches back from the site of the old Rockledge Inn, later the Mill Mountain Theater, which burned years ago.
In addition to the statue, an underground auditorium and museum are planned to tell the story of the men of Normandy.
Foundation members say the Blue Ridge Parkway spur to the mountain would make the memorial a tourist attraction as well as a reminder of the men who fought their way ashore.
A rough sketch of the memorial shows it is screened from the star on the mountain by trees and does not interfere with the zoo or a wildflower trail.
There are plans to make a cut in the land to fashion a steep stone cliff, like the cliffs the invaders saw at Normandy. The statue would face the cliff.
John Will Creasey, a Roanoke advertising executive and artist, said the foundation recently had Julian L. Kulski, a landscape architect and planner, look at possible sites in the valley.
When Kulski went to the mountain, Creasey said, "lights turned on and the gong sounded and he said, `This is the place.' "
Creasey said city officials originally were enthusiastic about the statue being on the mountain, but "they began to have second thoughts," he said. They "kind of said, `We need to wait and be sure to see if we should go ahead with the restaurant and the lodge.' "
Creasey said the restaurant and lodge are still just suggestions 25 years later.
He said the foundation has "lost so many months, I don't see how we can complete the whole thing" by June 6, 1994 - the 50th anniversary of D-day.
Creasey said completion of the statue might be possible by the anniversary if something happens soon. If the city does not give the land for the monument, he said, "it would be the most short-sighted decision ever made."
Bagbey, the foundation chairman, was asked if Roanoke City Council might see a vote against giving the land as a vote against the veterans who won World War II.
"I would certainly feel that way," he said. "I don't know how many of them feel that way."
by CNB