FEATURE/Freedom Isn't Free Say 508,000 Names On 'Walls of Honor' At Poignant Veterans Memorial Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.To download high-resolution, print-ready JPEG JPEG in full Joint Photographic Experts Group Standard computer file format for storing graphic images in a compressed form for general use. JPEG images are compressed using a mathematical algorithm. images, click on the thumbnail image above. WARNING: these images are very large (800K+) Click here for caption Photo Editors/Feature Editors/Travel Writers NOTE TO MEDIA: Multimedia assets available A photo is available at URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. : http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.081203/bb9 PIGEON FORGE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 12, 2003 The artifacts artifacts see specimen artifacts. inside the Veterans Memorial Museum are as captivating cap·ti·vate tr.v. cap·ti·vat·ed, cap·ti·vat·ing, cap·ti·vates 1. To attract and hold by charm, beauty, or excellence. See Synonyms at charm. 2. Archaic To capture. as you'll see anywhere, but it is the names that stop you in your tracks. Names are printed in tight columns going from floor to ceiling. Tight columns. Floor to ceiling. Wall after wall. They are the names of Americans killed during World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, the September 11 attacks September 11 attacks Series of airline hijackings and suicide bombings against U.S. targets perpetrated by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda. and other recent engagements. If you counted, you'd reach 508,000 names on what the museum calls its Walls of Honor. The museum, which opened in 2002, is a project of sculptor Fred Hoppe, who created the museum's 17 life-size bronze sculptures and collected its thousands of artifacts. It began as a tribute to his father and his World War II comrades. "As a child, I realized that older people were walking historians. That carried over when I started talking to Noun 1. talking to - a lengthy rebuke; "a good lecture was my father's idea of discipline"; "the teacher gave him a talking to" lecture, speech rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval - an act or expression of criticism and censure; "he had to veterans. With our country's World War II and Korean soldiers dying at a rate of 1,000 to 1,400 per day, I promised my father and six of his friends that I would build a memorial to them," Hoppe said. Dominating the central gallery is one of the world's largest war memorial bronze sculptures. The four-ton work features 12 life-size soldiers storming a beach. Each figure was modeled after an actual veteran Hoppe interviewed, including his father. Elsewhere are historic items that date to the War of 1812 and the War Between the States. For example: Robert E. Lee's gold general's collar stars, a field surgical kit from Teddy Roosevelt's charge up San Juan Hill San Juan Hill (săn wän, Span. sän hwän), Oriente prov., E Cuba, near the city of Santiago de Cuba. It was the scene (July, 1898) of a battle in the Spanish-American War, in which Theodore Roosevelt and the Rough Riders took part. , a cavalry gas mask gas mask, face covering or device used to protect the wearer from injurious gases and other noxious materials by filtering and purifying inhaled air. In addition to military use (see chemical warfare), gas masks are employed in mining, in industrial chemistry, and by (for the horse, not the soldier), the Japanese surrender sword presented to Douglas MacArthur's sword, a carrier pigeon display (low-tech communication) and an array of dramatic war photos. Many exhibits tell very personal stories. For instance, one display contains items that recall Lt. Max Thorncroft's 220 World War II combat hours in a P-47 Thunderbolt--charts, maps on silk, his lieutenant's bars. His widow, Eva, shows them for a simple reason: "I want him remembered." Eva Thorncroft's comment goes to the heart of Fred Hoppe's vision. "I want everyone to be as proud of veterans as I am," he said. "Freedom isn't free." The Veterans Memorial Museum is in the Smoky Mountains Smoky Mountains: see Great Smoky Mountains. resort town of Pigeon Forge. It is open every day except Christmas Day; its website is www.veteransmemorialpf.com. Information about all aspects of Pigeon Forge is at www.mypigeonforge.com. Note: A photo is available at URL: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.081203/bb9 |
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