BLADENSBURG, Md. — Veterans gathered at the foot of a controversial monument in Bladensburg Maryland Friday to re-dedicate the 97-year-old memorial, after years of litigation that threatened its future.
The Peace Cross in Bladensburg was constructed to memorialize 49 Prince George’s County men who died in France in World War I.
But in 2017, the monument took on modern significance when a federal court ruled that the display of the cross on public property was unconstitutional.
The finding was reversed in 2019 by the U.S. Supreme Court after a challenge by the American Legion, sparking a renewed effort to raise funds to rehabilitate the monument.
On Friday, the restored monument was rededicated by veterans groups and officials including Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan.
“The idea that memorializing our soldiers killed in battle on foreign lands to make the world safe for democracy could be unconstitutional somehow was an insult to our veterans and against everything we stand for as Americans,” Hogan said.
The ceremony included Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission Historian Marvin-Alonzo Greer dressed in a WW1 uniform reading the names from the monument including 8 African Americans.
Veteran William Speight said the inclusion of black soldiers on a memorial put up in the 1920s during a revival of the Ku Klux Klan's influence in America is no small thing.
“Knowing that back then that they had to foresight to add black people to the 49 names, that is just mind-boggling to really think about that and put it in perspective with the history of our country, the history of the state of Maryland and the history of Prince George’s County," Speight said.