World War II Memorial Eternal Flame - Woonsocket, Rhode Island
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The American Legion Fairmount Post 85 of Woonsocket, Rhode Island, dedicated the World War II portion of its War Veterans Memorial on October 17, 2021. An eternal flame holds a place of prominence at the center of the memorial.
Waymark Code: WM165T6
Location: Rhode Island, United States
Date Posted: 05/12/2022
Views: 2
The
American Legion Fairmount Post 85 of Woonsocket, Rhode Island,
dedicated the World War II portion of its War Veterans Memorial on October 17, 2021. An eternal flame holds a place of prominence at the center of the memorial.
The eternal flame pays tribute to the more than 180 soldiers from Woonsocket who perished. “We’re uniting the veterans but also the ones who stayed back. We call them the soldiers of production,” said Albert Beauparlant, Post 85 historian and the chairman of the monument planning committee. (Valley Breeze, New World War II monument will honor 'soldiers of production'", Oct. 27, 2021). To that end, materials used in the design - including a millstone on the eternal flame element and steel girders for the memorial's entryway - represent Woonsocket’s industrial role in the war effort.
The flame is in the center of a park-like space, an ovoid approximately 70 feet long by 45 feet wide, with manicured grass and shrubs, numerous memorial plaques, and a ring of flags. The flame emerges from the open middle of a millstone four feet in diameter and one foot thick. An oxidized steel ring holds the prone stone two feet above ground level.