World War I Monument

World War I Monument. Area 12. , In 1935, the James P. Clark Post of the American Legion sought an artillery piece for world war one monument. This piece- a B.L. 60 Pounder British Field Gun- was procured from a US arsenal and transported gun via railroad to Medina. Wm. J. Gallagher transported gun from the railroad to State Street Park where a concrete base and plaque were added to create the monument., On October 3, 1935 the formal dedication took place, park then known as "City Park". Roses from White Bros. Rose Corp. were dropped over the ceremony by airplane, with over 300 persons and dignitaries attending., 80 years after the memorial's original dedication, the field gun was in dire need of rehabilitation and efforts were commenced in 2018 to restore this rare artillery piece., Dave Seedenberg of Seed Artillery Reproduction and Restoration in Altoona, PA was engaged to restore the gun. Seedenberg, is an expert in the field of restoring and reproducing functioning historic artillery pieces. His work is nationally renowned., The rehabilitation required the gun to be transported to Altoona and stripped down. Parts were repaired and new parts were re-manufactured. The gun was primed and painted with epoxy primer and finished to match the original world war one paint scheme. The goal was to restore the piece to withstand exposure for another one hundred years or more. The entire process took nearly a year and garnered national attention., Today, the memorial stands fully restored, the pride of the community. It was rededicated on Memorial Day, 2019. The display for the field gun now includes three new flagpoles - an American Flag, signifying the soldiers of Medina who served and sacrificed their lives in France during the Great War; a British flag, signifying the gun's heritage; and a French flag, signifying the theater of service for the field gun and our local soldiers. A new granite slant was installed, featuring a refurbished bronze plaque that was originally with the monument in 1935. New up-lighting illuminates both the gun and flags., British Heavy Field Gun - B.L. 60 Pounder. Manufactured in 1916 by Elswick Ordnance Company, Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It weighs 6 tons, calibre: 5 inch/127mm, 21 feet in length, 6 feet in width, issued to battery in France, April 1917, fired 2871 rounds, returned to England for repairs, November 1917, reissued to battery in France, September 1918, fired 1471 rounds., There are ten known possible surviving examples (very rare): - five in museums, two in the US, and five parks and cemeteries in the US, including Medina, NY., 8" Heavy Seacoast Howitzers, Pattern 1844, Another Medina monument worthy of note is located in Historic Boxwood Cemetery at the Soldiers Plot., Two rare and historic Civil War era cannon adorn this area due to the efforts of the Honorable Henry A. Childs. They were secured from the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 1897, and are two of the eight remaining out of a total of eighty-seven manufactured., The "two artillery pieces are 8" Heavy Seacoast Howitzers, Pattern 1844. They were founded as a solid casting of hot-blast cast iron in 1855 at the West Point Foundry in Cold Spring, NY, by famed American soldier and inventor of military ordnance, Robert Parker Parrott. Today, for display purposes only, they are mounted on a decorative carriage made by the Washington Iron Works of Buffalo, NY." , (Captions):, B.L. 60 Pounder on the Western Front, 1917., B.L. 60 Pounders on the Western Front, A portion of the program from the rededication ceremony, Memorial Day 2019.