NEWS FROM LONG AGO
JUNE 20, 1919
STATE MEMORIAL TO WORLD WAR VETS: Jackson, Miss. - Mississippi will embark the last week in June upon a campaign to raise half a million dollars for the building of a State Memorial to her sons who served during the World War. This state was the first in the Union to lay plans for thus honoring its soldiers and sailors. The drive will begin June 26 and conclude July 5. County quotas have been worked out, based upon the number of men from the counties who enlisted in the army or navy.
The state’s plan for a Memorial Hall, to be built at some point yet to be selected, was born in this city early this year, when prominent men from all sections gathered here and decided a state memorial would not only pay a more appropriate tribute to the state’s soldiers, but would also guarantee that every man who served would be honored.
The county or city memorial plan, it was felt, not only frequently resulted in small, inartistic, and inappropriate memorials, but also in injustice as one town might honor its solder sons with a memorial while its neighboring city, with just as many heroes, might leave them without a memorial. The state memorial provides for the preservation of the name of every Mississippi fighter in eternal bronze, and the name of every war worker and contributor to the memorial fund in bronze-bound volumes.
R. E. Kennington of Jackson was elected state chairman at the first meeting, with B. W. Griffith of Vicksburg and vice-chairman, E. L. Bailey, Jackson secretary, and J. T. Thomas of Grenada, treasurer. Eight district chairmen were also named. The selection of county chairman was made entirely by the district chairman in order that the memorial plan might be free of any sectional taint. County chairmen have been chosen for their ability as leaders and their response to the call to service has been most enthusiastic.
H. M. K. Smith of New York is campaign manager for the drive. Mr. Smith is well-known in Mississippi, where he served as state campaign manager in the Red Cross drive, in which Mississippi subscribed $1,250,000, the largest over subscription recorded during the war for any state.
Approval of the plan for a Memorial Hall has come from former President William Howard Taft, member of the national committee on memorials, from Secretary of War Newton D. Haker, who wrote an enthusiastic letter of endorsement; United State Senators John Sharp Williams and Pat Harrison; former United States Senator James K. Vardaman; from four candidates for governor, and from fraternal and religious organizations all over the state.
Here in compact form is told the story of what the memorial will be: The Mississippi state memorial to be erected in honor of the soldiers and sailors of the state will be in the form of a Memorial Hall, a building with three distinctive features, to be known as Court of Honor, the War Museum, and the Reunion Hall.
It will be built after the memorial fund has been raised by popular subscription and the city in which it is to be located will be chosen by the votes of the 82 county chairmen. The architectural details will be determined under the advisement of the National Memorial Association, of which ex-President William H. Taft is the honorary chairman.
