Prospect Park

The Daily Plant : Wednesday, December 19, 2001

THE BATTLE OF THE BULGE EVER-PRESENT IN WOLFE’S POND PARK

December 16 marked the anniversary of the World War II Battle of the Bulge, fought in 1944. Three years ago Parks dedicated a site in Staten Island’s Wolfe’s Pond Park for a memorial to that battle. On Sunday, December 16, 2001, Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern welcomed visitors to the completed plaza and directed their attention to the monument at its center.

In the audience and on the dais were scores of veterans of the Battle of Bulge and other conflicts. As the ceremony coincided with new military action by the United States, guests were keenly aware of the bravery and sacrifice required of all soldiers.

The design of the memorial plaza and monument, by Anthony Moody and Mike (Greenman) Browne, recalls the historic battle in several ways. A ring of evergreen trees is intended to evoke the Ardennes Forest where the battle was fought. Rings of belgian blocks, donated by the people of Belgium and Luxemburg, call to mind European side streets. A groundcover of white flowers represents an interpretation of the snow that was falling in December of 1944. (Luckily, no such snow graced Sunday’s ceremony.) In the distance, the American flag is visible, a reminder of the institution and the values for which the veterans’ sacrifices were made.

The monument consists of two black granite slabs that symbolize the heroic holding of the line. A granite wall shows the shoulder patches of the 45 participating units. Indicative of the continued life of the battle is a dichroic glass star at the heart of the monument. With changes in light, the glass star changes color too. Reflecting nature, it shifts and changes. With a view of the sun on the Raritan Bay, in the presence of trees and flowers, in the company of laughing visitors and pensive ones, the memorial will take on added life from the company it keeps.

Elaine Webber, Vice Council of the Luxemburg Embassy; Brigadier Guy Melchior, Defense Attache of the Belgian Embassy; County Clerk Stephen (Leafy) Fiala; Council Member Andrew (Amphibian) Lanza; Congressman Vito (South Shore) Fossella; Assembly Member Robert (Vigil) Straniere; Commissioner Henry J. (StarQuest) Stern; John (Capri) Antoinelli, Chair of Community Board 3; Carmine Burzumato, President of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge; and Anthony Moody all spoke.

Read the press release for this event.

The following Requests for Bids (RFBs) and Request for Proposals (RFPs) were recently advertised in local newspapers:

RFBs" boat rental, Prospect Park, Brooklyn; food sales and boat rentals, Crotona Park, the Bronx; newsstand, Rosehill Park, the Bronx; newsstand, Hugh Grant Circle, the Bronx; newsstand, Peter Minuit Square, Manhattan; Outdoor cafe, Peter Minuit Square; newsstand, Owen F. Dolen Park, the Bronx.

"Now the laborer’s task is o’er;
Now the battle day is past;
Now upon the farther shore
Lands the voyager at last."

John Ellerton (1826-1893)