Sunday, July 1, 2012

For Every Drop of Blood...Veterans Memorial


I was driving through an area of the valley that I don’t usually have reason to be in. I saw these beautifully sculptured trees and had to stop to see what it was about.
I copied this from glendaleaz.com/interactiveArtTour:


For Every Drop of Blood—For Every Life Devoted Veterans Memorial
Joe Tyler

Bronze, copper, steel, sandstone and concrete
Completed: 2001
"This artwork includes five welded steel trees, one for each branch of the armed services. The intertwined limbs of each sculpted tree are symbolic of the combined efforts of the Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard in the defense of the United States. The leaves in the sculpted canopies represent the thousands of Veterans who have served, are currently serving and will serve in the Armed Forces. In the center is an obelisk featuring a depiction of the battleship silver service pattern commissioned for the USS Arizona and actual salvaged pieces from the USS Arizona.
Joe Tyler currently lives and works in Arizona. He has successfully completed public art projects for several Valley cities, including Tempe, Scottsdale, Mesa and Phoenix. The City of Glendale gratefully acknowledges the Glendale Veterans Memorial Association and Bob Manzetti (donator of USS Arizona salvaged pieces) for their help in the creation of the Veterans Memorial."


 It is located on the lawn in front of the Glendale Public Library at 5959 W. Brown St., Glendale, AZ 85302. The trees must be at least 15 feet tall.








The plaque gives the history of the events of the attack on Pearl Harbor and of USS Arizona; a portion of the plaque reads:

"The city of Glendale has acquired historical artifacts that were salvaged from the USS Arizona and the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor. The rusted metal pieces are from a portion of the potato locker in the ship’s galley. The steel rings were cut from the USS Arizona Memorial Flagpole. These artifacts serve as a silent sentinel, paying homage to those brave men and women who gave their lives for the defense of this great nation."

At the bottom it says:

"In memory of the crew of the USS Arizona (BB-39). This is a Tribute to all Past, Present, and Future Veterans."



There are also monuments for each branch of military service circling the center.  


While the trees appear to have copper leaves, I believe they are painted  with copper color paint.


There are lights in the trees that look like flowers.


Amazing details on the trunks and vines.


The leaves create beautiful patterns on the concrete and the benches.

I wanted to share this with you because I love stuff like this. Adding the salvaged pieces to the memorial were the perfect touch.

Copyright© Family Home and Life 2012 All Rights Reserved

6 comments:

  1. Oh how beautiful and thoughtful!

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  2. Truly beautiful.

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  3. Beautiful! I would love to see this in person.

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  4. Join us this Veterans Day 11NOV2012 1000 hours for our annual flag raising. Open house at VFW Post 1433 immediately following the ceremony. https://www.facebook.com/vfwpost1433

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  5. I was in Glendale AZ - my brother lives within walking distance of this monument, and although I have driven past it many times I had never gone up and around it before. What a treat. I decided to write a wikipedia article about it, which will take a bit of time, but I hope will get done. it will be 'USS Arizona Memorial (Glendale)" should you want to go looking or wish to add to it. If you are tempted to some of your pictures, and I can see why you would be, be sure to figure out the copywirht issues first because wikipedia is tough about that. Thanks, Einar

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Thank you SO much for taking the time to leave a comment!