The ''Fountain of Eternal Life'', also known as the ''War Memorial Fountain'' and ''Peace Arising from the Flames of War'', is a

statue A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

and

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or Spring (hydrology), spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. ...

downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

Cleveland Institute of Art The Cleveland Institute of Art, previously Cleveland School of Art, is a private college focused on art and design and located in Cleveland, Ohio. History The college was founded in 1882 as the Western Reserve School of Design for Women, at fir ...

graduate Marshall Fredericks and dedicated on May 30, 1964. The sculpture, which honors

Greater Cleveland The Cleveland metropolitan area, or Greater Cleveland as it is more commonly known, is the metropolitan area surrounding the city of Cleveland in Northeast Ohio, United States. According to the 2020 United States Census results, the five-county ...

ers who served, died, or were declared missing in military service, is situated on Veterans' Memorial Plaza (formerly Mall A) as part of the Cleveland Mall."GCVM History and Mission"
''The Greater Cleveland Veterans Memorial''. Accessed August 4, 2014.

History

The fountain was initiated and promoted by the ''

Cleveland Press The ''Cleveland Press'' was a daily American newspaper published in Cleveland, Ohio from November 2, 1878, through June 17, 1982. From 1928 to 1966, the paper's editor was Louis B. Seltzer. Known for many years as one of the country's most in ...

'', which raised $250,000 in donations from private citizens and various organizations for the project. The centerpiece is a bronze figure representing man escaping from the flames of war and reaching skyward for eternal peace. The bronze sphere from which the figure rises represents Earth. Four

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...

carvings, representing the "geographic civilizations of the world", are placed around the sphere. Fredericks described his central figure, towering above the basin, in this way: On the surface of the polished granite rim surrounding the fountain are bronze plates bearing the names of 5,552 Greater Clevelanders who have fallen in military service during times of war from 1899 to 2014, a span of 115 years. This includes patriots from the

Spanish–American War , partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence , image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg , image_size = 300px , caption = (clock ...

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

, the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

, the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

, and the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. These names are memorialized in the Greater Cleveland Veterans Memorial Honor Roll.

Dedications

At its initial dedication in 1964, there were 4,155 names on the existing Memorial Fountain. These names represented Americans who died during World War II and the Korean War. The memorial underwent a complete restoration during the construction of an underlying parking garage in connection with the neighboring

Key Tower Key Tower is a skyscraper on Public Square in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Designed by architect César Pelli, it is the tallest building in the state of Ohio, the 39th-tallest in the United States, and the 165th-tallest in the world. The buildi ...

, and was rededicated on

Veterans Day Veterans Day (originally known as Armistice Day) is a federal holiday in the United States observed annually on November 11, for honoring military veterans of the United States Armed Forces (who were discharged under conditions other than di ...

in 1991. At a 2004 rededication, the GCVM added 1,361 additional names to the Memorial Fountain to include those Greater Clevelanders who died in the Spanish–American War, World War I, the Vietnam War, and the initial six casualties of the Iraq War. This number also included those who perished during World War II and the Korean War for whom new information was found to support their addition to the Memorial Fountain. Another rededication on July 25, 2014 added 42 new memorial names – 33 representing the Iraq War, the remainder from the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and World War II.

References

External links

Greater Cleveland Veterans Memorial website
{{Marshall Fredericks 1964 establishments in Ohio 1964 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Ohio Buildings and structures in Cleveland Culture of Cleveland Downtown Cleveland Fountains in Ohio Monuments and memorials in Ohio Nude sculptures in the United States Sculptures of men in Ohio Statues in Ohio Tourist attractions in Cleveland Sculptures by Marshall Fredericks War monuments and memorials Peace monuments and memorials

History

Dedications

See also

References

External links