Remembering Their Sacrifice

By Iman Khan

With a lingering focus on Iraq and turmoil in the Middle East, except for on Veteran’s Day, other wars fought by Americans are often forgotten by the public. Various Veterans’ organizations and non-profit groups, as well as New York City’s Parks and Recreation Department, have worked to keep the memories of the men who fought in these wars alive through statues and memorials dedicated to them.

On the edge of Forest Park in Richmond Hill is a somber and reflective World War I tribute which was erected neither by an armory or the city but by the community of Richmond Hill, which wished to commemorate the contributions of its men. It speaks of war fought not with bayonets but with determination and noble self-sacrifice, an attitude very different from the armory statues and very much of its era.

A gift of the people of Glendale, a war memorial there honors 21 Glendale residents who died in combat during World War I. Sculptor Anton Schaaf (1869-1943) created the bronze bas-relief of a female figure holding a torch in her. Schaaf also collaborated with Helmle and Corbett on the Ridgewood War Memorial in Queens.

During the first World War British soldiers referred to their American counterparts as doughboys because of the large round buttons on the American uniforms; these buttons reminded the British soldiers of the cakes or biscuits known as doughboys. Statues of American infantry soldiers are similarly called doughboys, and there are bronze doughboys in each of the five boroughs of New York City and can be found in Queens at the intersection of Woodside and Skillman Avenues. This memorial was erected by the Woodside Community Council in remembrance of the local men and women who served in World War I.

More recently, a new memorial, funded by the non-profit called the Korean War Veterans Memorial Association, was erected in their honor in Kissena Park. The group formed five years ago after the Parks Department told the men from Bayside, Whitestone and Flushing – an area heavily populated by Korean immigrants – that they could not raise funds for a monument unless they were incorporated as a non-profit. The entire project, which was financed through donations and a contribution from the Korean government, will cost $650,000.

Numerous other memorials are in place all over the borough. While many of these memorials don’t remain physically hidden from view or in out of the way locations, the normalcy of their existence often causes these memorials to go overlooked. They’ve blended into the scenery so well, that although in plain sight, they are hidden, and definitely can be considered treasures.