MJZiggy
10-12-2006, 04:59 PM
U.S. Air Force Memorial Nears End of 14-Year Odyssey (Update1)
By Dan Hart
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The latest memorial to U.S. military service members in the Washington area, this one for the Air Force, will be dedicated on Oct. 14 in Arlington, Virginia, completing a more than 14-year journey for Ross Perot's son.
The memorial, which cost more than $30 million, is the work of James Ingo Freed, who designed Washington's U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The U.S. Air Force Memorial will honor the millions of men and women in the service and its predecessor organizations, memorial spokesman Richard Baker said.
Lockheed Martin Corp. led all corporate donors providing funding for the project, giving at least $5.5 million, according to the memorial's Web site. Boeing Co. gave $5 million, and Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon Co. and the United Arab Emirates Air Force each contributed $2 million, the site said.
``We had 140,000 donations for this project,'' said Ross Perot Jr., chairman of the U.S. Air Force Memorial Foundation, in an interview. ``It was a grass-roots campaign, and at the end of the day, we needed money, and the corporations were very glad to help out.''
Perot, an 8 1/2 year Air Force veteran, is chairman of the closely held Dallas-based Hillwood Development Corp. and the son of billionaire H. Ross Perot, who ran for U.S. president in 1992. Perot, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff T. Michael Moseley will attend the memorial's dedication.
54,000 Airmen
The foundation was created in 1992 to promote a memorial for those who served in the Air Force and earlier organizations, including the Army Air Corps and Army Air Force. About 54,000 airmen have been killed in action, the Air Force said.
The memorial's three spires, which rise vertically and gradually curve outwards, are intended to evoke the maneuver performed by the Air Force's Thunderbird flight demonstration team called the ``bomb burst.'' The tallest spire is 270 feet (82 meters) high.
It is situated on a promontory overlooking Arlington National Cemetery, south of the Pentagon on U.S. Interstate 395 in northern Virginia. There is also a memorial park, with four bronze statues of airmen and two granite inscription walls.
The U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, which depicts the flag- raising during the World War II battle on the island of Iwo Jima, 660 miles south of Tokyo, was officially dedicated on Nov. 10, 1954, according to the National Park Service Web site about the memorial.
The U.S. Navy Memorial, which features a 100-foot granite map of the world, was dedicated on Oct. 13, 1987, at a cost of about $15 million, said Taylor Kiland, spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy Memorial.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Hart in Washington at dahart@bloomberg.net .
By Dan Hart
Oct. 12 (Bloomberg) -- The latest memorial to U.S. military service members in the Washington area, this one for the Air Force, will be dedicated on Oct. 14 in Arlington, Virginia, completing a more than 14-year journey for Ross Perot's son.
The memorial, which cost more than $30 million, is the work of James Ingo Freed, who designed Washington's U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. The U.S. Air Force Memorial will honor the millions of men and women in the service and its predecessor organizations, memorial spokesman Richard Baker said.
Lockheed Martin Corp. led all corporate donors providing funding for the project, giving at least $5.5 million, according to the memorial's Web site. Boeing Co. gave $5 million, and Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon Co. and the United Arab Emirates Air Force each contributed $2 million, the site said.
``We had 140,000 donations for this project,'' said Ross Perot Jr., chairman of the U.S. Air Force Memorial Foundation, in an interview. ``It was a grass-roots campaign, and at the end of the day, we needed money, and the corporations were very glad to help out.''
Perot, an 8 1/2 year Air Force veteran, is chairman of the closely held Dallas-based Hillwood Development Corp. and the son of billionaire H. Ross Perot, who ran for U.S. president in 1992. Perot, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Air Force Chief of Staff T. Michael Moseley will attend the memorial's dedication.
54,000 Airmen
The foundation was created in 1992 to promote a memorial for those who served in the Air Force and earlier organizations, including the Army Air Corps and Army Air Force. About 54,000 airmen have been killed in action, the Air Force said.
The memorial's three spires, which rise vertically and gradually curve outwards, are intended to evoke the maneuver performed by the Air Force's Thunderbird flight demonstration team called the ``bomb burst.'' The tallest spire is 270 feet (82 meters) high.
It is situated on a promontory overlooking Arlington National Cemetery, south of the Pentagon on U.S. Interstate 395 in northern Virginia. There is also a memorial park, with four bronze statues of airmen and two granite inscription walls.
The U.S. Marine Corps War Memorial, which depicts the flag- raising during the World War II battle on the island of Iwo Jima, 660 miles south of Tokyo, was officially dedicated on Nov. 10, 1954, according to the National Park Service Web site about the memorial.
The U.S. Navy Memorial, which features a 100-foot granite map of the world, was dedicated on Oct. 13, 1987, at a cost of about $15 million, said Taylor Kiland, spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy Memorial.
To contact the reporter on this story: Dan Hart in Washington at dahart@bloomberg.net .