The War to End All Wars ended a century ago. But the battle over its memorial is ongoing…

The Armistice to end World War 1 happened one hundred years ago this week, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918.

Thirteen years later, in 1931, a small memorial was dedicated on the National Mall in Washington, honoring the 499 residents of the District of Columbia who gave their lives in the conflict. But no similar national memorial was created.

In 1938, Congress declared November 11 a federal holiday, to honor the veterans of World War 1, and to be known as “Armistice Day.” But this special distinction of the war ended in 1958, when the day was renamed “Veterans Day” to honor veterans of all the nation’s wars.

Fifty more years passed. In 2008, Frank Woodruff Buckles, the last surviving veteran of the war, visited the DC Memorial at the amazing age of 107. He noted the extreme disrepair of the DC memorial, and issued a call that it should be repaired and rededicated as a national memorial honoring ALL veterans of the Great War. Incredibly, he survived another three years, finally passing at age 110. He was buried with full honors at Arlington at a service attended by President Obama and Vice President Biden. But his call for a national memorial went unheeded.

Until three years later. In 2014, Congress designated Pershing Park – a dilapidated enclave located not far off Pennsylvania Avenue near the White House – to be the future site of a new national memorial, and a Centennial Commission was created to raise private funds and solicit designs.

In 2015, designs were submitted and a treatment called, “The Weight of Sacrifice,” by a young architect named Joe Weishaar, was chosen. The intent of the piece was to completely transform Pershing Park.

However, in 2016, the National Park Service decided that Pershing Park was eligible for the National Register of Historic Places, which would protect its original design aesthetic. Though the park is currently a mess, it was originally created by noted landscape architect M. Paul Friedberg, who not surprisingly declared that Weishaar’s design was a “disaster” that would destroy his park’s aesthetics.

This set off a modern battle of design, as Weishaar continually revised and streamlined his concept to try to fit within Friedberg’s original vision. Each revision was met with criticism, sending Weishaar back to the drawing board again and again.

Finally, this past July, a stripped-down concept that makes only two major interventions in the park’s original design was approved by the U.S. Commission on Fine Arts.

But that’s not the final word, as the design still has to be approved by the National Park Service and the National Capital Planning Commission. A few further revisions are expected. And if those are approved, the memorial may finally become reality.

But no earlier than 2020.

At which time, the Great War may finally have the great memorial that it deserves.

(Learn more at www.worldwar1centennial.org)