For months I’ve walked by a giant cement or stone looking structure that sits in the middle of the Cadman Plaza. Since it is surrounded by a local park it always stuck out and I’ve wondered what that structure is.
I finally walked over to it and found out that it is the Brooklyn War Memorial, and it’s a relic of Robert Moses.
After World War II Moses wanted each borough to have one main war memorial, rather than loads of smaller memorials – which is what happened post World War I – and as it turns out, Brooklyn was the only borough to have built such a memorial.
The building itself operates as a Parks Department office, with the memorial having a giant Roman warrior on one corner…
And a giant Roman widow and fatherless child on another corner…
With this inscription on the side in between both giants…
“This memorial is dedicated
To the heroic men and women of the borough of Brooklyn
Who fought for Liberty in the second World War 1941-1945
And especially to those who suffered and died
May their sacrifice inspire future generations
And lead to universal peace”
And that’s about it…although I must say, I had thought and still wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this memorial was really built to hide the entrance to a giant underground bunker system – after all, it was built post WWII and it sits in the middle of a rather large urban park.