Copyright 2000 Toronto Star Newspapers, Ltd.
The Toronto Star
November 12, 2000, Sunday, Edition 1
SECTION: NEWS
LENGTH: 375 words
HEADLINE: GROUND BROKEN FOR WAR MEMORIAL IN D.C.
BODY:
WASHINGTON (Special) - With thousands of aging veterans looking on, U.S. President Bill Clinton yesterday broke ground for a World War II memorial on the National Mall, declaring that the proposed monument of graceful arches and stone tablets would be a "timeless tribute" to their bravery and sacrifice in "the greatest struggle humanity has ever known."
Thirteen years in the making, the monument is planned for a 3-hectare swath of land between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.
It will be dominated by a sculpture called "the Light of Freedom," a symbol of the battle of freedom by the United States and its allies over the the war's totalitarian foes.
"The wisdom this monument will give us is to learn from the past and look to the
future," Clinton told the crowd during the Veterans' Day groundbreaking.
"May the light of freedom that will stand at the centre of this memorial inspire every person who sees it to keep the flame of freedom forever burning in the eyes of our children and to keep the memory of the greatest generation warm in the hearts of every new generation of Americans."
Officials said that they aim to dedicate the completed memorial on Memorial Day, 2003.
In Paris, France honoured its World War I heroes yesterday, marking the 82nd anniversary of the armistice that ended the Great War in a solemn ceremony under the Arc de Triomphe.
On a clear, bright day, French President Jacques Chirac placed a wreath of cornflowers on the tomb of France's unknown soldier at the exact moment when the violence ended 82 years ago - the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
A few of the war's surviving veterans, aged 99 to 105 years old, looked on.
As smoke devices exploded overhead, 200 young people participated in a 12-minute pageant to honour three generations - the soldiers of the Great War, Paris students who resisted Nazi occupation during World War II, and modern youth.
Following tradition, Chirac and Prime Minister Lionel Jospin wore cornflowers in their buttonholes - a symbol of the "poilus," the war's French soldiers.
Thirteen million civilians and 8.5 million soldiers died in the Great War. France lost 1.3 million.
LOAD-DATE: November 12, 2000