New Monument to the Army's 10th Mountain Division Dedicated in Watertown, New York
Watertown, New York (PRWEB) June 26, 2016 -- A Colorado sculptor and citizens of a small, blue-collar city in rural northern New York State will come together July 1 in an unprecedented act of devotion for their U.S. Army division.
A 15-foot tall granite monument will be unveiled and dedicated to the 10th Mountain Division during the Independence Day festivities in Watertown, located about 30 miles south of the Canadian border. It’s the first time that this vast stretch of New York – known historically for its dairy farms before the Army arrived and attracted investment and development – has funded such an impressive monument on civilian grounds.
The 10th Mountain Division is the most deployed in the Army and based at Fort Drum, a military installation of approximately 35,000 soldiers and family members that not only keep nearby Watertown (pop. 26,780) economically humming with jobs and trade but are so intertwined with the fabric of the community that civilians and local organizations reached into their pockets and came up with more than $400,000 to erect the monument at the city’s Olmstead-designed park.
Like the city, award-winning sculptor Susan Grant Raymond is connected to the division. The division originated from her native Colorado and Raymond has become the de facto sculptor for the 10th Mountain, having designed the Military Mountaineers and Fallen Warrior monuments on post. For her work, she has been named an honorary member of the 10th Mountain Division, a rare achievement.
The new monument, entitled “North Country Honors the Mountain,” features three bronze reliefs by Ms. Raymond to commemorate the time frames in the division’s illustrious history: its origin at Camp Hale in Colorado through its decisive World War II victory in Italy (1943-45), its reactivation in 1985 and deployments to Somalia, Haiti and Bosnia and Kosovo (1985-2001) as well as the recovery from Hurricane Andrew (1992), and the recent deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq (2001-2016).
The fourth side is reserved to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the division’s re-activation, set for 2035. An endowment for that panel and monument maintenance has been established.
“No military installation is as much a part of the community as Fort Drum and the 10th Mountain Division are to Watertown and Northern New York. Soldiers use our hospitals, enroll their children in our schools, attend our churches and are our neighbors. This monument was built as a permanent and prominent acknowledgement of the value the citizens of Northern New York place on their relationships with the soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division, their families and the Fort Drum civilian workforce,” said Gilbert H. Pearsall, Jr, chair of the North Country Honors the Mountain monument committee.
The dedication at 1:30 p.m. is followed by a daylong Rockwellian celebration in Thompson Park, a scenic city overlook designed by Olmstead Brothers, the same firm responsible for New York City’ Central Park. The celebration includes local bands, an evening symphony concert with fireworks and more.
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Contact: Gilbert Pearsall, Honor the Mountain Committee Chairman, 315-489-3633
Col. (Ret.) Mike Plummer, Honor the Mountain Committee member, 315-782-4178
Gilbert Pearsall, Honor the Mountain Monument Committee, http://www.honorthemountain.com, +1 (315) 482-2520, [email protected]
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