A special place

Bronze centerpiece arrives at nearly finished World War II veterans memorial

It’s been years in the making, from concept to construction. But the end seemed almost in sight Monday morning when a large crane delivered a tall bronze centerpiece created by nationally known sculptor Benjamin Victor to the site of the Kern County World War II Veterans Memorial in downtown Bakersfield.

“It’s going to be a special place, and that’s what we wanted,” Project Manager Paul Burzych said as workers prepared a 5-foot tall granite pedestal as a permanent platform for Victor’s 6-foottall sculpture.

The sculpture depicts a grieving World War II-era wife and mother, holding her young son. In her hand is a Western Union telegram informing her that her husband has been killed in action.

In this way, the memorial not only honors all veterans from Kern County who served and sacrificed during that devastating war, but honors, too, the women and families at the homefront

who likewise suffered and sacrificed.

“It’s been an unbelievable process,” Victor said as workers prepared to set his sculpture at the center of the memorial.

“To come home and be here in my hometown, and get to do this, to honor our World War II veterans, is beyond words.

“But I hope my artwork shows my gratitude for being a part of this,” he said. “I’ve put everything I could into this sculpture, I’ve put my heart into it, I’ve put my effort, my energy into it, and I’ve done a lot of research and study.

“And all that time and energy hopefully culminates in something that really honors that greatest generation.”

It was Walter Grainger, the World War II Navy veteran serving on the memorial’s nonprofit board, Victor said, who pushed for representing the image of the wife and mother who is left grieving after receiving news of the death of her husband serving overseas.

Grainger knew that depicting a soldier would have been unfair to the millions of sailors, Marines and airmen who also served during that global conflict.

“When we think of the World War II heroes,” Victor said, “all the servicemen who gave their lives, and all the family members who had to spend those sleepless nights worrying about them, and those who gave the ultimate sacrifice and didn’t come home ... it means the world to me to be a hometown boy who gets to come back and do this for my heroes, our veterans.”

The organizers raised more than a half-million dollars to fund the effort to build the memorial, but according to memorial board Vice President Wendy Ward, the in-kind services donated by the local construction community equaled the dollar amount of the monetary donations.

After the memorial is dedicated beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, the ownership and responsibility for the property will again be in the hands of the city of Bakersfield, said board President and Vietnam veteran Ed Gaede.

As Gaede gazed out across the new memorial at the beautiful bronze representation of a wife and mother who, like so many of that generation, suffered so much, he said honoring those who served at home is vitally important.

“How better could you encapsulate the sacrifice and suffering on the homefront than through Ben’s sculpture?” he said.

“I don’t know how you could do it more succinctly than that.”