Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 5, 1994 TAG: 9406050078
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
That's according to Bob Slaughter, a D-Day veteran and secretary of the National D-Day Memorial Foundation, based in Roanoke.
The 50th anniversary of D-Day, June 6, 1944, has been marked by countless television shows, books and newspaper and magazine stories. If Roanoke's D-Day Memorial had been in place, the city would have drawn attention from all over the world, Slaughter said.
Slaughter and others began work on a memorial six years ago with hopes of having it built by this year's anniversary. They have been frustrated by indecision among themselves on what type of memorial should be created and by what Slaughter and others see as a lack of enthusiasm on the part of some in city government.
Roanoke would be an appropriate location for a D-Day memorial because of the part the 116th Regiment of the 29th Infantry Division played in the Normandy invasion.
The 116th Infantry spearheaded the attack on the western side of Omaha Beach on D-Day. The casualties of the 29th Division and the 1st Division, which attacked the eastern half of the beach, totaled 2,500 for the day. Of five invasion beaches, the fighting was fiercest on Omaha.
The 116th Infantry was a Virginia National Guard unit before World War II, and the various companies of the regiment were based in hometowns all across central and Western Virginia. The regiment's headquarters company and several other units were based in Roanoke.
As veterans get older, they want to make sure that people remember the D-Day invasion and understand what went right and what went wrong that day. The memorial foundation, however, has lost members because of the lack of progress on a memorial, Slaughter said.
The original plans called for a $10 million memorial complex on top of Mill Mountain. But that idea was opposed by those wanting to keep the mountain in a more natural condition and was blocked by the terms under which the mountain was deeded to the city.
A later plan called for a monument to be built in the city's Entranceway Park between the Roanoke Civic Center and Hotel Roanoke, but that plan was delayed by construction on the hotel and relocation of streets in the area.
Slaughter said he now would settle for a monument in Elmwood Park or at the city's War Memorial at Lee Plaza across from the Municipal Building.
The foundation will bury a time capsule at Lee Plaza today as part of D-Day commemoration ceremonies, which include the opening of a new World War II exhibit at the Roanoke Valley History Museum at Center in the Square. The city paid for the time capsule, Slaughter said.
When he talked with Roanoke Mayor David Bowers this year about a monument or some other form of memorial, the mayor was less than encouraging.
"He told me we were way down on the city's list of priorities," Slaughter said.
Bowers said recently that the city has tried to be supportive of the foundation's efforts without interfering with what it is doing or promising any funding.
"We could not make any kind of pledge to them of any kind of financial support," he said.
He wants to encourage the committee to continue its efforts and hopes the city will be able at some point to help. That's not a pledge or promise, though, he said.
Once the foundation gets well along in its efforts, the city may be willing to make a contribution much in the same way it did with the Explore Park, Bowers said.
But Slaughter says that without a commitment from the city of land or other aid, it's tough to raise money.
The foundation has raised roughly $15,000 toward a memorial, but Slaughter said most of that money has been spent on developing an expanded D-Day exhibit at the History Museum in time for this year's anniversary.
After many years of work, Slaughter said he's growing weary of the effort.
"I hate to give up," he said.
by CNB