A Brief History of the World War II Memorial, 1995-2002

The idea of creating a memorial to Oberlin College alumni who had lost their lives in the Second World War first surfaced at a special alumni reunion held in Oberlin, Ohio, August 17-20, 1995, entitled “Reflection on the 40’s: Impact of the War Years.” Moved by a monument they had seen at Oxford University listing all alumni who had been killed in the war, irrespective of the nation they had served, William H. ’48 and Caroline (Morris) Warren ‘46 informally suggested creating such a memorial at Oberlin. Those with whom they spoke responded favorably, some agreeing to serve on a sponsoring committee, so the idea was proposed to the college administration and supported by President Nancy Schrom Dye and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, William Perlik ’48. Mr. Warren, a Trustee of Oberlin College at the time, organized a sponsoring committee to conceptualize, design, build and fund the memorial. On September 17, 1995, he convened the committee of Paul Arnold ‘40, Father John Kinkopf ’47, The Reverend William Reid ’45, James Sunshine ’49, James Truitt ’47, Anne Parker Tuck ’46, Norman Williams ex-’45, and Barbara King Wright ’41. Mr. Warren was elected chairman and Geoffrey Blodgett ’53, the Danforth Professor of History who had a strong interest in Oberlin architecture, was added to the committee.

During the fall of 1995 the committee addressed issues relating to the scope of the memorial (should the Korean and Vietnam Wars be included?) the location, design, and content of the monument, and the criteria for inclusion in the memorial. With college approval, a site along the south wall of Finney Chapel was selected. The committee proposed to construct a “War Memorial Garden” with a monument listing the names of all alumni – military and civilian, irrespective of the nation served – who had lost their lives due to the Second World War, to fund maintenance of the Garden, and to endow a college scholarship in memory of those who had died in the war. The overall design was to include space for memorials of other wars, should there be subsequent interest. Don Van Dyke ‘47, a volunteer researcher at the Oberlin College Archives, undertook pro bono the task of establishing an accurate and complete list of the dead, building on a list developed by Margaret Sahs Erickson ’62 of the Alumni Office. His task was aided by a card file of names of those in service, including the alumni who had died in the war, located at the Oberlin College Archives in the papers of Oberlin WW II-era president Ernest Hatch Wilkins. Wilkins corresponded with all Oberlin alumni in wartime service. A notice placed in the Oberlin Alumni Magazine also yielded names and several contacts with families of those who had died. The discovery that Masaru Nakamura, a graduate of the Oberlin School of Theology, had been killed while serving in the Imperial Japanese Navy prompted the committee to re-examine their criteria for inclusion in the memorial. Following discussion in which most members favored including Nakamura, all agreed to incorporate his name.

Fundraising was launched in late 1995 with an appeal letter to about 5,000 alumni from the classes of 1930 through 1949. The college staff solicited proposals from several landscape designers and architects and the committee and staff awarded the contract to landscape architect James McKnight, of Cleveland, Ohio. Drawing on the Cass Gilbert Romanesque design and the materials of Finney Chapel, McKnight created a low wall in the garden, reminiscent of ruins from a cloister, on which the names of the dead were inscribed in bands of individual bronze plaques. At the committee’s request, the design of the garden included cuttings of ivy from vines planted by President Wilkins in 1946 at the northeast portico of the Men’s Building (now Wilder Hall) in memory of Herbert Derwig ’46, who was killed in action,

The groundbreaking for the Garden was held during the 1996 commencement/reunion weekend, the 50th Reunion for many of those involved. Warren presented the memorial to the College and President Nancy Schrom Dye accepted, unveiling drawings and a model of the design. Three other members of the committee offered reflections: Barbara King Wright spoke of her experience as a female Marine and discussed the bombing of Hiroshima. James Sunshine framed the lives and deaths of several of his classmates and friends in the larger narrative of the war. Norman Williams described his own experience as a conscientious objector, his being haunted by a personal letter from the battlefront, and the need to extend the reach of the memorial beyond Oberlin’s dead. (His remarks were read by Geoffrey Blodgett in his absence.) Other committee members read the roll of the seventy-five alumni named on the memorial, and Father Jack Kinkopf, the Rev. Bill Reid, and Rabbi Shimon Brand from the college’s Office of Chaplains each offered a benediction, followed by the playing of “Taps.”

Over the summer and fall the design was refined and fundraising continued. In March of 1997, real – as opposed to symbolic – ground was broken and the memorial was completed by commencement weekend in 1997 at a total cost of $52,026, in addition to materials, plantings and labor contributed by the College. Ten thousand dollars was transferred to the endowment, income from which would cover maintenance and replacement costs. Following completion of the Memorial Garden, at the committee’s request the College agreed to permit additional fundraising until June 30, 2002. In the ensuing five years, reunion classes from the World War II era and other special groups were targeted for gifts to the Fund.

The College established in May 2000 an endowed World War II Memorial Scholarship Fund to provide financial aid to an entering student. The initial $60,000 endowed fund, which came from three sources, now exceeds $100,000. The College first made the award to an entering student in the 2000-01 academic year.