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Nation's Largest Memorial To WW2 Vets Rededicated At Redwood National And State Parks

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The majestic trees in the National Tribute Grove offer a living memorial to those who served in WWII. Photo by Miguel Vieira via Creative Commons and flickr. 

A popular attraction in Washington, D.C. is the World War II Memorial, but the nation's largest tribute to World War II veterans is located on the opposite side of the country'”in a unit of Redwood National and State Parks. In 1949, five thousand acres of old-growth redwoods were dedicated as the National Tribute Grove to honor those vets, but over the years that designation had been largely forgotten. That's now changed, and the Grove was rededicated in a ceremony late last month. 

Plans for this "living memorial" gained national attention in the 1940s, and funds for the grove were contributed by thousands of individuals, along with organizations such as Save the Redwoods League, Daughters of the American Revolution, and Garden Club of America.

A National Campaign for the Tribute Grove Gained Wide Support by 1945

Among those assisting with the campaign was H. T. Webster, one of the best-known editorial cartoonists of the day. His National Tribute Grove poster, shown below, was created in 1945, and featured a man and woman standing arm in arm, looking at light streaming through a forest of giant trees. The text on the poster read in part, "The National Tribute Grove, In Honor of the Men and Women of the Armed Forces of World War II: the Eternal Gratitude of a National Eternally Expressed."

 

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H. T. Webster's National Tribute Grove Poster. You can view a larger copy at this link. Image courtesy of Save the Redwoods League. 

Newton Drury was the director of the National Park Service in 1949, when the National Tribute Grove was dedicated, and he had previously led the Save The Redwoods League for many years. At the dedication ceremony, Drury noted the Grove was to be known as an "ever-living memorial of eternal gratitude, eternally expressed to those men and women who served in the armed forces of the United States in World War II and so preserved American freedom."

The idea of purchasing and protecting redwood groves to honor individuals or organizations was developed by the Save The Redwoods League shortly after WWI, and the first such memorial grove was dedicated in 1921 to honor Colonel Raynal C. Bolling, the "first high-ranking American officer to fall in World War I." That 60-acre grove is now part of Humboldt Redwoods State Park, one of the earliest redwood parks and now the largest in the California State Parks system. 

One of Many Memorial Groves

Since that time, over 1,000 memorial groves of varying sizes have been designated; at 5,000 acres the National Tribute Grove to the World War II veterans is among the largest, and it is part of the present-day Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

So, how did this "National Tribute Grove" end up in a state park in California? The management of these sites is a bit unusual, and sorting out "who does what" in Redwood National and State Parks can be a bit confusing, so here's a quick summary of the situation.

Three California State Parks: Prairie Creek Redwoods, Del Norte Coast Redwoods, and Jedediah Smith Redwoods, were established between 1923 and 1929. Support for protecting some of the redwoods was voiced as early as 1917 by Stephen Mather, the first Director of the National Park Service, but it took decades for the idea of a national park for that purpose to come to fruition. As a result, there were several state, but no national, parks protecting redwoods when the campaign for the National Tribute Grove gained momentum near the end of WWII.

After a long and bitter political battle, Redwood National Park was finally dedicated in 1968. In 1994 the National Park Service and California State Parks agreed to cooperatively manage their contiguous redwood parklands as Redwood National and State Parks. Currently, the combined parks contain 131,983 acres, with 71,715 of those acres in federal ownership.

Much of the land now included in the combined parks was initially acquired by organizations such as the Save the Redwoods League and then donated to the parks, and the Memorial Grove concept has played a major role in purchase and protection of these areas.

Not Gone, But Gradually Forgotten

When the National Tribute Grove was dedicated in 1949, a one-ton stone marker was placed near the entrance to Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park, where it would be visible to motorists driving down U. S. 199. Although the marker and the grove have survived as intended, the significance of the grove as a tribute to veterans gradually faded from our collective memories, as those involved in the fundraising and the original ceremony have passed on.

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This marker was placed on a one-ton stone base when the Grove was dedicated in 1949. NPS photo.

 

Over the years U.S. 199 has become a major highway, vegetation at the site has changed, and the moss that inevitably begins to grow on anything in this dense forest began to camouflage the monument. Park Ranger Michael Poole notes that even if a motorist was specifically looking for the marker, it would have been hard to spot from the road, and with traffic zipping along at 55 m.p.h. it wasn't safe to stop for a closer look.

That situation changed on Saturday, September 27th, when Redwood National and State Parks, in partnership with the Del Norte Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), hosted a rededication event for the 65th anniversary of the National Tribute Grove. The year 2014 was also fitting for this event for other reasons: it marks the 150th anniversary of the California State Park System.

A New -and Better - Home for the Marker

Prior to the ceremony, in order to ensure this living tribute to our veterans is not forgotten, Redwood National and State Parks employees moved the one-ton stone marker with its original dedication plaque from the site along the highway to a new location in the picnic area of Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park.

'œWe realized that it was going to be very dangerous for people trying to stop there along Highway 199 and go look at the monument,' Ranger Poole said. The new location at the picnic area is also inside the National Tribute Grove.

A park spokesperson notes, "Here, this unparalleled monument to the sacrifices of American veterans will be more easily and safely viewed, appreciated, and remembered for generations to come. The grove will long continue not only as a tribute to those who served in World War II, but also as a place of solace and reflection for those who still serve today."

Now that you know the story behind the grove, you might be a bit puzzled if you were to stop and read the text on the relocated marker: "This Unit Of 500 Acres In The National Trust Grove Is Preserved Through The National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution, to Honor Those Who Served In The Armed Forces Of The United States In World War II And To Keep Inviolate These Primeval Sequoias As An American Heritage, 1949."

But wait, wasn't the National Tribute Grove supposed to include 5,000 acres of redwoods?

It did indeed. In the 1940's, the Save the Redwoods League contracted with the Del North Lumber Company to purchase the grove in installments of 500 acres each as the money was raised, and then asked Americans to contribute to the effort.

The Marker Recognizes Purchase of the Final Piece of the Grove

The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) accepted the challenge of purchasing the final 500-acre parcel, and did so by raising over $26,000'”most of it in small donations of a few cents each. The state of California then matched the DAR donation to complete the final purchase. The marker on the 1949 monument refers to this 500-acre tract that capped the effort to preserve the entire 5,000-acre Grove.

Those efforts by an earlier generation were honored in the September 27 rededication ceremony, which began in the early morning under the redwoods with a color guard provided by a unit of the U. S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps. It included speakers from the National Park Service, California State Parks, the DAR, and World War II Medal of Honor recipient Robert D. Maxwell, who also received the honor of lifting the veil covering the grove'™s newly relocated stone monument.

The event then continued in the town of Crescent City, California, with a DAR-hosted luncheon, speakers and an illustrated presentation on the history of the grove by NPS ranger Michael Poole. He spoke of the meaning of the grove not only as a tribute to those who served in World War II, but also as a tribute and place of solace and reflection for those who still serve today.

A Living Monument to WWII Veterans

"The National Tribute Grove is not only the nation'™s largest World War II monument, it'™s the only living monument to World War II veterans," Poole noted. "The founders of the National Tribute Grove were not only impressed by the trees'™ longevity, but their hardiness," he said.

'œThe founders of these groves could look at the redwoods and see these burnt and twisted and broken trees that have basically survived combat with nature,' Poole said. 'œThey thought it was very fitting for veterans that having gone through war and experiencing everything that was bad about war, here you could see these trees that have done the same thing and have survived and have now become this wonderful cathedral.'

Comments

in researching my family history I have found out that a relative, killed in WWII , has had a redwood dedicated, in his name. After reading the information above, I am thinking that there must be a book or some listing of names of these men, who were killed. I am very interested in knowing about that.   Thank you.


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