Camp Merritt Memorial Monument
Background
The monument, which is a replica of the Washington Monument, is a 66-foot (20 m) tall obelisk, constructed of Stony Creek granite by the Harrison Granite Company. It features a large carved relief sculpted by Robert Ingersoll Aitken, which portrays a World War I doughboy with an eagle above it. An inscription on the south side states that the obelisk "marks the center of the camp and faces the highway over which more than a million American soldiers passed on their way to and from the World War, 1917–1919." Near the monument on a large boulder is a copper plaque designed by Katherine Lamb Tait which has a relief of the Palisades, and in the ground is a dimensional stone carving of a map of Camp Merritt.
The memorial monument was dedicated on Memorial Day, May 30, 1924. General John "Black Jack" Pershing, Commander-in-Chief of the American Expeditionary Force, gave the dedication address to an estimated audience of 20,000 people. Other speakers included the Governor of New Jersey, George S. Silzer. Mrs. Laura Williams Merritt, the widow of Major General Wesley Merritt, for whom the camp was named, was in attendance as well. The President at the time, Calvin Coolidge, was also invited to the event, but declined due to other obligations.
Gallery
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Relief by Robert Ingersoll Aitken at the base of the obelisk
See also
References
- ^ "Camp Merritt Memorial Monument" Archived 2016-12-30 at the Wayback Machine Bergen County, New Jersey website
- ^ "Camp Merritt" Archived 2010-12-29 at the Wayback Machine Bergen Couinty Historical Society
- ^ Bartholf, Howard E. (2008) "Camp Merritt, New Jersey" On Point: The Journal of Army History vol.14, no.2, p.47.
- ^ Rose, Howard (1984) Camp Merritt. Harrington Park Historical Society. p.140.
External links
- Media related to Camp Merritt Memorial Monument at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website
- The Monument