The Lend-Lease Monument highlights the significance of the role Alaska played in the Lend-Lease program, which leant thousands of American-made planes to what is now Russia for use at the battlefront during World War II. Located in Fairbanks, Alaska, the monument celebrates the role that Fairbanks and Alaska had as a key exchange point for warplanes that defined the program. This history has defined the monument to become an attraction for the city and region.
The Only Memorial to Honor the Lend-Lease program
In the early days of World War II, Allied nations found themselves short on the materials and supplies that were needed to keep fighting. This need resulted in the creation of the Lend-Lease policy, which saw the United States end their neutrality to support allied efforts. To help the Soviet Union on the eastern front, nearly 8,000 aircraft and numerous other supplies went up from the Lower 48 and eventually into the war.
The Lend-Lease Monument commemorates the flights of these American planes from the continental United States along the Alaska-Siberia Airway, which is illustrated on one of the bronze panels of the monument. A large number of aircraft were handed over to the Soviets at Fairbanks and then flown across the Bering Sea and into Siberia before eventually joining war efforts on multiple Russian battlefronts. Much of the Alaska-Siberia Airway route lay over remote and roadless wilderness, which forced pilots to make their way in stages from the safety of one quickly built fort to the next. Many pilots, including ones from the Women’s Airline Service Pilots (WASPs), flew airplanes up to Fairbanks to be part of this effort. The heroism on the part of American and Soviet pilots to participate in the endeavor is celebrated in the two figures that represent pilots from both nations.
Designed and created by Alaskan R.T. Wallen, the Lend-Lease Monument has an inscription and illustrations that detail this history along with markers that further define the pilots and people that enabled it. “Women in Wartime” and “Home Front to Front Lines” markers tell a complete story around the many different people and pilots that supported the wartime effort. The open space and seating surrounding the monument invites audiences to experience this history in whatever way they wish.
The only monument to highlight what it looked like for the United States to officially become part of World War II, the ribbing-cutting ceremony that took place in 2006 hosted officials from Russia, France, Canada and the United States to honor the program’s veterans. It is featured on maps and guides to Fairbanks but continues to cultivate attention from audiences and officials from around the world, highlighting what it can look like when monuments celebrate history in such a notable and profound manner.
A National and Regional Legacy
The Lend-Lease Monument commemorates a specific piece of history that is often overlooked on a national level but is nonetheless historically significant. This history is remembered in a whole different way in Alaska, which the monument celebrates in an inviting manner. Doing so will allow this legacy to be further defined and celebrated by audiences across the region and beyond.
