A New, Permanent Structure
Calls to replace the "temporary" monument with a more permanent structure came almost immediately. Attempts at securing federal funding to construct a new arch proved unsuccessful. As a committee of veterans and volunteers began to make fund-raising plans, there was some concern from others in the community that they were attempting to replace a "dead monument," and that a park, civic center, school, or hospital would prove to be more functional and useful to the city's citizens. Despite these protests, the necessary funds were collected to complete the new arch, made of stone, and it was rededicated on May 30, 1962.
On Memorial Day, 1969, an eternal flame was donated by the American Legion to the arch site. Standing fourteen feet high the eternal flame which sits under the arch was cast in bronze by Womack Foundry, Inc. (of Newport News) in the 1960s, and was hand crafted by the Foundry's founder and president, Ernest D. Womack.
Read more about this topic: Newport News Victory Arch
Famous quotes containing the words permanent and/or structure:
“A country whose buildings are of wood, can never increase in its improvements to any considerable degree.... Whereas when buildings are of durable materials, every new edifice is an actual and permanent acquisition to the state, adding to its value as well as to its ornament.”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)
“I’m a Sunday School teacher, and I’ve always known that the structure of law is founded on the Christian ethic that you shall love the Lord your God and your neighbor as yourself—a very high and perfect standard. We all know the fallibility of man, and the contentions in society, as described by Reinhold Niebuhr and many others, don’t permit us to achieve perfection.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)