Awarded to the mon mucuments meo worked to preserve arts and cultural artifacts in world war ii saving them from theft and destruction by nazi germany. This u. S. Capitol Visitors Center ceremony is about half an hour. Mr. Speaker, members of congress, ambassadors and other honored guests, we are gathered to celebrate the achievements of some 350 men and women from 14 nations who served in the monuments fine arts and archive section. We now know these men and scholar, men and women, as the Monuments Men. Only six are still living. Ann olivier bell and reuben sammy were unable to travel, however, bernard taper, richard beransik, and harry etlinger are with us today. So, too, are 175 family members of Monuments Men since passed. Our Founding Fathers committed to us the cause of freedom. The Monuments Men did no less for the respect and preservation of our shared Cultural Treasures. As early as 1942, george stout who would become the leader of the Monuments Men in europe and establish the
Mr. Speaker, members of congress, ambassadors and other honored guests, we are gathered to celebrate the achievements of some 350 men and women from 14 nations who served in the monuments, fine arts and archives section. We now know these men and scholar soldiers as the Monuments Men. Only six are still living. Ann olivier bell and reuben sammy were unable to travel. However, bernard taper, richard barancik, Motoko Fujishiro huthwaite, and Harry Ettlinger are with us today. So, too, are 175 family members of Monuments Men since passed. Our Founding Fathers committed to us the cause of freedom, the Monuments Men did no less for the respect and preservation of our shared cultural treasures. As early as 1942 george stout, who would become the leader of the Monuments Men in europe and establish their operation in post war japan, argued for the creation of cultural preservation officers during war to safeguard these things will not affect the course of battles, stout wrote, but it will affe
Honored guests, we are gathered to celebrate the achievements of some 350 men and women from 14 nations that served in the fine arts and a archives session. We now know the Monuments Men. Only six are still living. Two were una able to travel. 175 family members of Monuments Men since passed are with us. As early as 1942, george 120u9, the leader of the Monuments Men in europe and established their operation in post war japan argued for preservation officers during war to safeguard these things will not effect the course of battle, stout wrote. But it will affect the relations of invading armies with those people and their governments. To safeguard will show respect for the beliefs and customs of all men and will bear witness that these things belong not only to a particular people but also to the heritage of mankind. The death of two Monuments Men would seem to argue that art is worth the loss of life. But monumentsmen dean keller, an artist himself who missed his sons third, fourth,
from the outset have expressed concern about the scope and scale of this memorial. the original idea was actually to put a simple statue at the eisenhower executive office building. this was our family preference in the beginning. and so this has evolved a great deal. to say that the eisenhower family had gone along with every aspect of this process would not be correct. and we found it important to correct the record. i think you ll hear from others who have their own views on this. so i will leave the rest of that question to be answered by others. mr. garamendi, do you have questions? i have a couple, if i could. could you just briefly summarize why the family believes president eisenhower would have rejected this design? well, first of all, he was a very modest man. he would have expected something of far less dramatic, far less he would have wanted something on a smaller scale, i believe. this is an enormous thing. i did mention the metal scrims, which i think ar
president eisenhower was elected, but i was still crawling. not necessarily that old. so most of my memories actually come from books that have been read about him, which is where many of us learned about the significant contribution of president and general eisenhower. some members of congress today probably served under general eisenhower in world war ii, some served in korea when he was president a half century ago, but whether we come from personal memories or from our studies, he is to all of us a man who led our fathers and grandfathers in the crusade for europe and later a president who halted and contained soviet expansion during the cold war era. i do want to note that many lessons can be learned from his life. i just recently read a biography of president eisenhower which talked about when he was still a lieutenant in the army and had his first child and applied for and was given a housing increase supplement. only to find out through one of the technicalities he di