The Berlin Wall Memorial

The Berlin Wall Memorial. To Our Visitors. , Here, in America's Heartland between Mount Rushmore national Memorial and Ellsworth Air Force Base, remnants of the Berlin Wall are a vivid remainder that vigilance must never give way to complacency where freedom is concerned., The Principles of freedom espoused by Mount Rushmore's four presidents played a pivotal role in destroying the Berlin Wall, the symbol of Communist tyranny. In 1980 world renowned Swiss health care lecturer, Dr. Angelo Sargenti, toured Ellsworth's missile wing and bomb wing. Sargenti said, "Colonel, I want to thank you and your airmen because what you are doing here on the western plains of South Dakota allows my people in our tiny corner of Switzerland to live in freedom.", Your financial contributions will help maintain this memorial and assist with further development of the Cold War / Berlin Wall story., Finally, we pay tribute to the thousands of military persons who lost their lives, as well as to those who risked their lives, in the Cold War. We owe them our gratitude. , Picture captions: , . In a formal ceremony on June 22, 1990, attended by foreign ministers from the United States, France, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and both Germanys, a crane hoisted the Checkpoint Charlie guardhouse out of Friedrichstrasse. , New border crossings at the wall opened on November 9, 1989. Most of the activity was along the approximate two-mile section between the Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie - a crossing into East Berlin located in the American sector. Rapid City's two Berlin Wall segments came from tis two-mile area.