Navy – Merchant Marine Memorial

Navy-Merchant Marine Memorial

Detail of the memorial

The Navy-Merchant Marine Memorial, located in Lady Bird Johnson Park on Columbia Island in Washington, D.C., is a monument honoring sailors of the United States Navy and the United States Merchant Marine who died at sea during World War I. It was designed in 1922 by Harvey Wiley Corbett and sculpted by Ernesto Begni del Piatta. It was dedicated on October 18, 1934.

Nicknamed "Waves and Gulls," the memorial depicts seven seagulls above the crest of a wave. It is cast from aluminum and the base is made of green granite (the base was originally concrete but replaced by the Works Progress Administration in 1940). It stands 35 feet (10.6 m) tall and 30 feet (9.1 m) wide.

The memorial reads:

"To the strong souls and ready valor of those men of the United States who in the Navy, the Merchant Marine and other paths of Activity upon the waters of the world have given life or still offer it in the performance of heroic deeds this monument is dedicated by a grateful people."

Other Navy memorials

• Other U.S. Navy memorials

See also

• Peace Monument (Naval Monument)
• United States Navy Memorial

External links

• Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) No. VA-69, "George Washington Memorial Parkway, Along Potomac River from McLean to Mount Vernon, VA, Mount Vernon, Fairfax County, VA" includes Navy–Merchant Marine Memorial
• Photos of the Navy-Merchant Marine Memorial