Designer Walker Hancock | Opened 10 August 1952 | |
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Unveiled August 10, 1952Height: 39 feet (11.88 meters)Weight: 10.5 tons (9.53 metric tons) Similar National World War II Memorial, 30th Street Station, Lincoln Memorial Reflectin, Korean War Veterans, Rainbow Pool | ||
The Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial is a monument on the main concourse of 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It commemorates the 1,307 Pennsylvania Railroad employees who died in World War II.
History
The monument features a 28-foot (8.53 m) heroic-sized bronze sculpture, Angel of the Resurrection, that portrays Michael the Archangel lifting up a dead soldier out of the "flames of war." This is set upon an 11-foot (3.35 m) black-granite base, with two inscribed dedications and four bronze plaques listing the 1,307 names in alphabetical order. The work was designed and created by Walker Hancock (1901-1998), Instructor of Sculpture at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and a U.S. Army veteran of World War II. Hancock had been one of the "Monuments Men" who recovered art looted by the Nazis.
The monument is unusual in its intense verticality, which was inspired by the tall Corinthian columns of the concourse's east colonnade, Hancock recalled. Viewing the monument is particularly dramatic in the morning, when it is silhouetted against sunlight streaming through the 4-story windows between the columns. It remains Hancock's most famous work, and was his personal favorite.
The memorial was dedicated on August 10, 1952. Army General Omar Bradley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, spoke at the ceremony. It was unveiled by Army Sergeant Robert E. Laws, a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his bravery in combat in the Philippines, and a sheet-metal worker at the Pennsylvania Railroad's Altoona Works.
The two inscriptions read:
Hancock bequeathed his one-third-scale plaster model to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Following years in storage, it was restored and placed on permanent exhibit in the new Art of the Americas Wing, in November 2010.
