PA. BUDGET CUTS LEAVE FRENCH MEMORIAL IN DISREPAIR --

"I think it's scandalous that Pennsylvania doesn't do

more to maintain the Varennes memorial. It just

has a general air of neglect."

Pennsylvania Memorial -- Varennes, France

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http://www.thedailyreview.com/articles/2009/04/13/news/tw
_review.20090413.a.pg8.tw13argonne_s1.2442563_loc.txt

State budget cuts affecting far-off places

BY ROBERT SWIFT
HARRISBURG BUREAU CHIEF

HARRISBURG — State budget cuts are landing in half-forgotten, faraway places.

The Pennsylvania memorial at Varennes, France, overlooks the Aire River Valley, where thousands of Pennsylvania doughboys died during the Battle of Meuse-Argonne in the months leading to the end of World War I in 1918.

The Greek-style white monument built in the 1920s is in disrepair.

Gov. Ed Rendell wants to eliminate $74,000 in state aid allocated to pay for repairs to the Varennes memorial as part of an effort to erase red ink in the state budget. Lawmakers will vote on the $28 billion budget later this spring.

The Meuse-Argonne battle is little-remembered despite being the largest battle involving the American Army up to that time. Harry Truman and Douglas MacArthur fought there. Some 26,000 of their comrades were killed and 95,000 wounded during the six-week battle that broke German defenses on the western front.

A historian familiar with the battlefield thinks delaying would be a mistake.

“I think it’s scandalous that Pennsylvania doesn’t do more to maintain the Varennes memorial,” said Edward Lengel, author of “To Conquer Hell: The Meuse-Argonne 1918.” “It is showing some signs of cracking. It just has a general air of neglect.”

The American Battle Monuments Commission does basic maintenance jobs such as grass-mowing at the memorial with funds contributed by Pennsylvania.

But more money will be needed before repairs can be undertaken.

“What there isn’t sufficient funds for is to do the major repairs needed,” said commission spokesman Michael Conley.

Pennsylvania has a tradition of supporting battlefield memorials, having contributed $2 million to the World War II memorial dedicated in 2004 in Washington, D.C. Mr. Conley is hopeful money for Varennes repairs will be available once state budget problems are resolved.

Mr. Lengel writes that Meuse-Argonne is a forgotten battle just like WWI is a forgotten war for Americans. Several explanations are offered for this, including the realization in later years that the “War to End All Wars” didn’t achieve that idealistic goal.

The Meuse-Argonne’s 20th and 25th anniversaries, a time when middle-age veterans look back and reflect, occurred during World War II. The battle’s 50th anniversary came in 1968 when Americans were divided over the Vietnam War and the ranks of WWI veterans were rapidly thinning.

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