369th background

Right now I have two projects in construction for Parks: the 369th Regiment Memorial and McNair Playground. The 369th is my first project that's all mine -- on McNair I was more of a second-in-command to lead designer Nancy Prince. More on McNair in a later post.


The 369th project is very small, but important. The 369th Infantry Regiment has quite an interesting history, but here's the basic summary. They were among the first American regiments shipped to Europe in WWI. At this time the US Army was still racially segregated. The 369th, based in Harlem, was composed entirely of African-Americans with a few white officers. They shipped out to France without being allowed the customary parade down 5th Avenue, due to racial attitudes that frankly I just cannot understand. Once they were in France, they fought under the French flag (one of only a few US units ever to do so) and were also supplied directly by the French for some time. They were shipped to the very front lines and there quickly distinguished themselves as tenacious, fearless soldiers. Pretty soon people on both sides started referring to them as the "Harlem Hellfighters" because they just wouldn't give up, even when things looked bleak. By the end of the war, they had suffered heavy casualties, but had liberated numerous French villages and had never once retreated. While they were at it, they also managed to introduce jazz to Europe -- they were tough AND cultured.

One of the liberated towns, Sechault, was so grateful to the 369th that they erected a large granite obelisk to their memory. A few years ago, the 369th Historical Society thought it would be cool to have a replica of that obelisk put up here in New York. After years of work on this, General Nathaniel James of the modern 369th (now a National Guard unit) was able to have the new obelisk constructed in France and personally rode the C130 transport back to NYC with the monument. The monument is currently in several sections in the basement of the 369th's armory building.

I was brought on board to assist the 369th with a design for the monument's setting in their desired location, a small traffic triangle across the street from the armory. It was really an honor to work with these gentlemen on such a good cause.

Now, here's the photos. First, the existing traffic triangle:
The armory is the brick building in the background. One very cool thing about this triangle is that it stands at the northernmost point of 5th Avenue, where the outgoing 369th was not allowed to march (when they returned in triumph, though, you better believe they marched up 5th. It was apparently a big deal).

here's another shot, down 5th Ave:

here is a shot of the existing monument in Sechault, which our monument is a replica of. It's 369 cm high.

out of time for now... next time: the plan