Last week, Rick Patrick wrote a cover article for this newspaper and asked the question, Can the Four Freedoms Monument be saved? He points out that the monument to the first hero of World War II, Madison’s own Captain Colin P. Kelly, Jr. was never designed for outdoors. Instead, its composite construction was designed for an indoor setting. Over 80 years, since its unveiling on June 14, 1944, the monument has suffered from rain erosion. The most important thing for us to concentrate on as we think about preserving this precious gift is overhead protection – an architectural structure that will keep the rain from doing further damage.
In his article, Rick points out that the genesis of the monument was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s state of the union speech on June 6, 1941, fully 11 months before America’s entry into World War II and Capt. Kelly’s selfless sacrifice. In this important address, FDR pointed out that the world was already at war; pitting the forces of democracy against tyranny. America was sitting on the sidelines, but that would not last forever. At some point, we were going to have to pick sides.