Monuments that honor those who have fought or fallen in a war have been erected for millennia, and they come in all shapes, sizes and forms. They can celebrate a set of victories just as easily as they can honor a series of sacrifices, although the reasons behind the erection of a given monument vary a great deal. Some are designed to be equal parts commemoration and celebration, while others are far more focused on one of these aspects over another.
In Charleston, West Virginia, the West Virginia Veterans Memorial is an incredible example of what it means for a monument to equally commemorate and celebrate the sacrifices of the people who have served. The symbols and names that are displayed throughout allow visitors and residents to get a much better sense of the people whose names are inscribed on this monument. Doing so has established a real legacy for the piece and the people it preserves in a powerful way.
Commemorating Those Who Gave the Ultimate Sacrifice
Begun as a privately funded undertaking, the West Virginia Veterans Memorial Commission compiled the names to be commemorated on the Memorial. It was an effort that would guide and determine how the Monument would honor the more than 10,000 West Virginians who made the ultimate sacrifice in defending the nation in twentieth-century conflicts.
Designed by P. Joseph Mullins, the official groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 22, 1990. The foundation was completed the year after and the monolith cores were finished in 1992. Lottery revenues were eventually provided by the state to supplement fund-raising efforts, moving the project to a more rapid completion. Dedication of the Memorial, with the World War II sailor sculpture, took place on Veterans Day 1995. With the installation of the final sculpture in 1999, the cost of the Memorial and data on the inscribed names approached four million dollars.
However, the project itself is ongoing, as the Veterans Memorial Archives database continues to compile additional background information on each veteran honored on the Memorial. All of this info is placed in a database and accessible to the public through the West Virginia State Archives. Biographies of all the veterans whose names appear on the Memorial make the experience of being in it that much more powerful.
Below is a brief look at the type of info that has been compiled in this database for Staff Sergeant James Clifford Pauley:
Staff Sergeant James Clifford Pauley was born to parents James Andrew Pauley (b. 1893) and Elizabeth Julia Thompson Pauley (b. 1886) in Kanawha County, West Virginia, on March 4, 1917. He was one of seven children in a family that included Harold (b. 1915), Vivian (b. 1918), Frances (b. 1919), Everett (b. 1921), Elizabeth (b. 1923), Betty (b. 1927), Ralph (b. 1929), and Odessa (b. 1931). Receiving schooling up through the eighth grade, Pauley returned to work as a farmhand at a young age, taking up residence at the family’s new house and farm at Garretts Bend, Lincoln County, West Virginia. As Baptist churches gained a denominational stronghold in Lincoln County at the time, the Pauley family found themselves members of the Elizabeth Baptist Church.
To read more about the incredible people documented on this monument, click here.
Celebrating the Lives of over 10,000 Soldiers
The two-story oval shaped monument celebrates the lives of more than 10,000 West Virginians who made the ultimate sacrifice in defending the nation, but it does so not just with the names that are inscribed throughout the interior of the piece. Each side of the exterior of the piece has a bronze figure prominently displayed. These four soldiers each represent one of the four major conflicts of the 20th Century.
There is a World War I Army infantryman, a World War II Navy sailor, an Air Force aviator from the Korean War, and a Marine Corps marine from the Vietnam War. Each figure is in full gear, authentic to the period and rank represented, as meticulously researched by the sculptor.
The Memorial has created conversations about what other types of monuments and places to commentate and celebrate sacrifices in war should be erected as well. Not far from the memorial is a statue that is the first memorial to honor West Virginia’s female soldiers. It is the only sculpture on the Capitol grounds depicting a woman and has done much to change the conversation around what it means to honor their female military veterans.
Sitting in the shadow of the West Virginia State Capitol and part of the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, the Memorial helps visitors and residents to see and understand what kinds of sacrifices people from this state have made in recent conflicts, which is an important element that ties into other pieces of West Virginia history on display throughout the complex.
The unspoken power of the monument is evident regardless of the time of day, although it being lit up at night creates a whole different experience for viewers. No matter when someone visits the Memorial though, the legacy it commemorates is evident and will be for a long time.
A Legacy of and for West Virginia
West Virginia has the country’s eighth-largest percentage of veterans in its population, according to 2007 figures from the U.S. Census and U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. All of the people who come to honor and celebrate this history at the West Virginia Veterans Memorial are able to do so in an especially meaningful way. Critically though, visitors are not limited with their experiences in the area, as the State Capitol Complex has numerous other activities that can range from a tour of the Capitol to a visit at the West Virginia State Museum Gift Shop to the Foam at the Dome event.
These attractions and events illustrate the economic and cultural impact the West Virginia Veterans Memorial has helped enable in the present. However, the commemoration and celebration of the legacy of West Virginia veterans will resonate that much longer and more significantly.
