Inouye carries the flag
for WWII Memorial

The isle senator is praised for leading
the charge in Congress for the
large, dramatic memorial

By Pete Pichaske
Star-Bulletin

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Daniel Inouye is adding a new line to his resume: top congressional lobbyist for the World War II Memorial.

In recent months, Hawaii's senior senator, who lost an arm during the war, has emerged as perhaps the leading Senate supporter of what will be one of the largest, most dramatic memorials in the nation's capital.

"I don't think we could have found anyone who carries more weight in veterans' circlesml6 Daniel

Inouye or in Congress than Sen. Inouye," said Haydn Williams, chairman of the World War II Memorial Site and Design Committee. "He's really taken the lead on this. He's been wonderful."

The World War II Memorial is scheduled to be completed in 2002. It will occupy a prominent place on the National Mall, about midway between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, and just across the Tidal Basin from another top local attraction, the Jefferson Memorial.

Although popular with veterans' groups, the World War II Memorial has not avoided controversy.

It took six years for Congress to approve the idea of building a World War II memorial on the mall, which it finally did in 1993. Critics wondered if the memorial would be appropriate for the mall, and the first design, which included a museum-like structure, was rejected.

The most recent design, calling for a more open array of stone walls and arches, a plaza and a pool, was denounced as trivializing the war at a meeting earlier this month of the National Capital Planning Commission.

Nevertheless, the commission approved the design concept, removing the last major hurdle to building the memorial.

Inouye appeared at the meeting to endorse the design as "simple but solemn." He called World War II the only one of the five declared U.S. wars that was supported unanimously by Americans.

"It was a war that brought our nation together," he said. "As a small participant in that great war, I am pleased that our national leaders have finally agreed to construct a memorial to honor those who stood in harm's way."

It was not the first time Inouye had thrown his weight behind the memorial. Two months ago, he and Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, spent a frantic day gathering signatures from fellow senators on the Senate floor for a letter endorsing the memorial to the Commission of Fine Arts. The commission later approved the design.

Inouye said he was asked by former Sen. Bob Dole, who had championed the memorial's cause in the Senate, to carry on the campaign when Dole left the Senate to run for president in 1996.

Inouye said he is pleased with everything about the memorial, especially its location on "sacred ground" near the capital's most important memorials.

"It's about time we had this memorial," said Inouye. "Of all the wars, this was the most important."

Approval of the World War II Memorial is all but final, but Inouye said he now will help with the next step: fund-raising.

The memorial is to be built with private money and will cost an estimated $100 million. Dole is head of the fund-raising campaign.

"I'll follow his orders, do what I'm told," said Inouye. "But I would've liked to see taxpayers' money used for this. It was our nation's war."