Peace Cross Bladensburg, MD

The battle to save the Bladensburg Cross is still going on.

The Bladensburg Cross was dedicated in 1925 to honor 49 men from Prince George's County
that perished in WWI. The Memorial was funded by local residents and The American Legion.
It is now owned by the Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission.

The Memorial is listed as a nomination on the National Register of Historic Places by the
Prince George's County Historic Preservation Committee in April 2015.  The Peace Cross
is listed as an Historic Place, but is not yet listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The American Humanist Association and three individuals filed a lawsuit in 2014 asking that
the Memorial be removed because of its implied religious nature as a Christian symbol, thus
violating their Constitutional rights. The Cross is located on property owned by the State
of Maryland; and the plaintiffs said it goes against the First Amendment.

A very brave woman Renee Green is spearheading the effort to save the Memorial. In an
interview she said "In order for people to make a decision, they had to know the history.
They have to understand it." Green went on to say "It's a WWI Memorial dedicated to the
49 men who paid the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom. It represents peace."

In January 2015 Renee Green submitted another application for the Memorial Peace
Cross to be nominated to the National Register and it was accepted.

Although the Memorial's application has been accepted this does not stop the lawsuit, so
it will continue to drag out for some time.

More information can be found at www.savethepeacecross.com
There is also an official Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Save-The-Peace-Cross/1539886132901090

Our Veterans should never have a Memorial or Monument that is dedicated to those who served
our country moved or violated in any manner. Those who served did so at the risk of
their lives, and so many did give their lives to protect our Nation.

---- Jerald Terwilliger Chairman Emeritus American Cold War Veterans "We Remember" ---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996

Mojave Desert Cross To Rise Again As Veterans Memorial

The Mojave Desert Cross which was originally erected in 1934 by the VFW to honor World War I
veterans; will once again be raised on Veterans Day Nov. 11 at 11AM and will be re-dedicated
in a ceremony at 1PM.

The Liberty Institute which represented several major veterans groups as a friend of the court
in the Supreme Court case, made the announcement today.

The Memorial is located in the Mojave National Preserve, Cima Road, Cima, CA 92364.

The Mojave Desert Veterans Memorial is the only WWI Memorial that has been designated by
Congress as a National Memorial. It stood in place for over 60 peaceful years as a time honored tribute,
until 2001 when the ACLU filed a lawsuit claiming that the Cross stood on public land; and violated
the Constitution.

So for almost 13 years the legal battle has dragged on, during this time the Memorial was
bagged, torn down,  put in a box and stolen by vandals.

In April U.S. District Judge Robert J. Timlin signed an order ending the ACLU lawsuit and thus
paving the way for original 1 acre site on Sunrise Rock to be transferred to the VFW to allow them
to restore the Memorial. In 2003 the United States Congress had authorized the land transfer.

In 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled in favor of the Memorial and had sent the case back
to the district court to decide the land transfer.

We Thank the Liberty Institute for their help in this cause. The Institute is also representing the
Mt. Soledad Memorial Association in a similar case over the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial
that includes a cross on public land.  Also the institute is involved in another case, the Memorial
Peace Cross in Blandensburg, Maryland; a forty foot memorial that has stood for 85 years.


---- Jerald Terwilliger Former Chairman American Cold War Veterans "We Remember" ---------------- "And so the greatest of American triumphs... became a peculiarly joyless victory. We had won the Cold War, but there would be no parades." -- Robert M. Gates, 1996