Photo By Maj. Edward Alvarado | Soldiers of the 1st Infantry Division joined Kansas State University faculty, alum and...... read more read more
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MANHATTAN, Kan. - In what was 94 years in the making, “Big Red One” Soldiers and the community of Kansas State University formally dedicated Memorial Stadium in a ceremony held April 21 in Manhattan, Kansas.
The stadium, which opened in 1923, was built and named in tribute to the 48 students of the university who would make the ultimate sacrifice during World War I. Three sides of the oval stadium surrounding the playing field were completed, but the southern portion never was. That section is now the location of the K-State Alumni Center.
“Today, we do assemble to complete a project that was started in 1923, never finished because of the Great Depression, and to memorialize the lives of 48 Kansas State Agricultural College students lost in service in World War I,” said Richard Myers, president of K-State. “In a way, this has all been lost in our history, that Memorial Stadium was never completed, that the dedication of this veterans memorial was placed on hold and then never conducted.”
The three-year project to formally dedicate the stadium started off like most great K-State projects do, with the ideas and commitments of the K-State family, said Myers.
“The project gained critical velocity when another K-State alum, Jed Dunham, was visiting K-State and stumbled upon the plaque to the fallen 48 veterans that had their name on that plaque,” Myers said. “He began a very personal quest, to research and tell their stories, and the discovery that this special place was never dedicated to the 48 men that it was built to honor.”
Dunham, a 1996 K-State graduate and member of the university’s Military Innovation Center, spearheaded the 48 Fallen 48 Found Project to honor a promise to the fallen Soldiers.
“I took a very simple, thoughtless photograph of (the plaque) and when I returned home, I landed on the fixture of the plaque,” Dunham said upon looking at the names of the fallen. “I wanted to know who they were and what their lives meant and I thought a very simple search on the Internet would solve my answers. That was not that case.”
Nothing came out of the multiple searches, almost like the 48 Soldiers had vanished, which did not sit well, Dunham said.
“Thus began an odyssey to figure out who these individuals were; as I pulled the string and unraveled in what became a long journey, the stories of the 48 fallen emerged.” Dunham said. “They were fascinating, they were beautiful, and they were sad and horrific and they were unbelievably American.”
Memorial Stadium was never finished, built on a great promise, and where the Alumni Center sits today a giant limestone horseshoe was intended to be built to close the stadium, Dunham said. Through this entrance, each person who stepped into the memorial hall would recognize the impact of the First World War and make a promise to themselves to never repeat that, Dunham said.
“I want you all to remember, as we step foot into this stadium, we are all Kansans today, we are all American,” Dunham said.
Retired Lt. Gen. Perry Wiggins, former commanding general of the 1st Inf. Div., provided words on behalf of Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback during the ceremony.
“It seems only fitting that at a time when our nation comes together and holds events and ceremonies commemorating the Great War, ceremonies like our own 1st Infantry Division’s 100th Anniversary,” said Wiggins, executive director of the Kansas Governor’s Military Council, “that we take time to remember and honor 48 young men from Kansas State Agricultural College and who put service before self and gave the ultimate sacrifice.”
From the state’s inception, Kansas and its citizens have taken great pride in its sons and daughters who have raised their right hands and sworn to defend this nation, Wiggins said.
“I want to thank Kansas State in holding this dedication ceremony that recognizes young men, who at a world at war, answered their nations call,” Wiggins said. “A ceremony that not only recognizes the service and sacrifice of 48 American heroes but also highlights to those who continue to stand on point for this nation, that we will never forget.”
| Date Taken: | 04.21.2017 |
| Date Posted: | 04.25.2017 10:47 |
| Story ID: | 231460 |
| Location: | MANHATTAN, KS, US |
| Web Views: | 339 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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