Circle of Honor - Hackensack, NJ
Posted by: 
Metro2
N 40° 52.728 W 074° 02.595
18T E 580611 N 4525743
This Veterans Memorial is on the grounds of the Bergen County Court House at the intersection of Court and Mooore Streets in Hackensack, NJ.
Waymark Code: WMAZWK
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 03/17/2011
Views: 6
The Circle of Honor has monuments to Veterans of several US Wars and Military actions_ WWI, WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam, Beirut, and Desert Storm. It has a sculpture of an eternal flame in front of the Veterans' monuments. The inscription of the eternal flame is a poem by Omar Khayyam:
"I SOMETIMES THINK THAT NEVER BLOWS SO RED
THE ROSE AS WHERE SOME BURIED CAESAR BLED;
THAT EVERY HYACINTH THE GARDEN WEARS
DROPT IN ITS LAP FROM SOME ONCE LOVELY HEAD
OMAR KHAYYAM"
The WWI Memorial inscription also has a poem:
"VETERANS MEMORIAL
WORLD WAR I
IN FLANDERS FIELDS
IN FLANDERS FIELDS THE POPPIES BLOW
BETWEEN THE CROSSES, ROW
ON ROW,THAT MARK OUR PLACE AND
IN THE SKY THE LARKS STILL BRAVELY
SINGING FLY, SCARCE HEARD AMID THE
GUNS BELOW. WE ARE THE DEAD, SHORT
DAYS AGO WE LIVED, FELT DAWN, SAW
SUNSET GLOW, LOVED AND WERE LOVED,
AND NOW WE LIE IN FLANDERS FIELDS...
COL. JOHN McCRAE"
The WWII Monument reads:
"VETERANS MEMORIAL
WORLD WAR II
'OUR SONS, PRIDE OF OUR NATION,
THIS DAY HAVE SET UPON A MIGHTY ENDEAVOR...
LEAD THEM STRAIGHT AND TRUE... THEIR ROAD
WILL BE LONG AND HARD... SOME WILL NEVER
RETURN... EMBRACE THEM FATHER...
AND RECEIVE THEM...'
PRESIDENT, FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT"
The Korean War Monument's inscription reads:
"VETERANS MEMORIAL
KOREAN WAR
DEDICATED IN HONOR TO THOSE WHO GAVE
THEIR LAST FULL MEASURE OF DEVOTION
FOR GOD AND COUNTRY
THEY SHALL NOT GROW OLD
AS WE THAT ARE LEFT GROW OLD
AGE SHALL NOT WEARY THEM
NOR THE YEARS CONDEMN
AT THE GOING DOWN OF THE SUN
AND IN THE MORNING
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM"
The Vietnam War Memorial inscription reads:
" VETERANS MEMORIAL
VIETNAM WAR
'I THINK YOU OUGHT TO KNOW, DEAR BROTHERS, ABOUT THE HARD TIME
WE WENT THROUGH IN ASIA, WE WERE REALLY CRUSHED AND OVERWHELMED
AND FEARED WE WOULD NEVER LIVE THROUGH IT. WE FELT WE WERE DOOMED
TO DIE AND SAW HOW POWERLESS WE WERE TO HELP OURSELVES; BUT THAT
WAS GOOD, FOR THEN WE PUT EVERYTHING INTO THE HANDS OF GOD---
WHO ALONE COULD SAVE US.'
2 CORINTHIANS 1: 8-10"
The Beirut Memorial reads:
"VETERANS MEMORIAL
BEIRUT
'AS I WEPT INSIDE, I ASKED, 'LORD, WHERE
DID WE GET SUCH MEN?' AND I WAS REMINDED
IF A NATION IS TO BE GREAT, IF A NATION
TRULY IS TO BE THE LAND OF THE FREE. THAT
IT ALSO MUST BE THE HOME OF THE BRAVE.'
GENERAL - P. X. KELLEY
COMMANDANT - MARINE CORPS"
The Desert Storm inscription reads:
"VETERANS MEMORIAL
DESERT STORM
AMERICAN VETERANS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE REVERSAL OF A BRUTAL
AGGRESSION AND OCCUPATION OF SISTERLY KUWAIT.
I WOULD LIKE TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO ACKNOWLEDGE
THEIR SUPPORT. IT IS MY HOPE THAT THIS MEMORIAL WILL FOREVER
PRESERVE THE NOBLE ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE MANY MEN AND WOMEN
WHO SACRIFICED THEIR LIVES FOR THE CAUSE OF FREEDOM./
BANDAR BIN SULTAN BIN ABDULAZIZ
AMBASSADOR-SAUDI ARABIA
TO THE-UNITED STATES"
It was dedicated in May of 1993 and again the following May. The Inventory lists the artists as
"American Monument Company, fabricator.
Bergen County Memorials, fabricator."
TITLE: Circle of Honor
ARTIST(S): American Monument Company, fabricator; Bergen County Memorials, fabricator.
DATE: 5/16/1993
MEDIUM: GRANITE
CONTROL NUMBER: IAS NJ000460
Direct Link to the Individual Listing in the Smithsonian Art Inventory: [Web Link]
PHYSICAL LOCATION:
on the grounds of the Bergen County Court House at the intersection of Court and Mooore Streets in Hackensack, NJ.
DIFFERENCES NOTED BETWEEN THE INVENTORY LISTING AND YOUR OBSERVATIONS AND RESEARCH:
No differences noticed but...unlike most Inventory records, this one does not note the medium, which appears to be granite.
There is also a small monument to American Ex Prisoners of War at the site...but it is not mentioned by the Inventory...perhaps it isn't considered part of the work...or perhaps it was added later.
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