The American Response Monument , with the sub-title De Oppresso Liber , is a half-life bronze sculpture at Liberty Park overlooking the Memorial of September 11 National & amp; Museum in New York City. Unofficially known as Horse Statue , this is the first publicly accessible monument dedicated to US Special Forces. It was also the first monument near Ground Zero to recognize the hero of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The statue was conceived by the sculptor Douwe Blumberg and first sold in 2003 as a small-scale version, 18 inches (460 mm). In April 2011, an anonymous group of Wall Street bankers who lost friends in the 9/11 attacks ordered a high version, 16 feet (4.9 m). It was dedicated to Veterans Day, November 11, 2011, in a ceremony headed by Vice President Joe Biden and Lt. Gen. John Mulholland, commander of the Duty Squad Task Force and the US Army Special Operations Command during Operation Enduring Freedom.
The statue commemorates members of the US Special Operations troop service and their response to 9/11, including those who fought during the first phase of the Afghan war. This operation led to an early defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan.
Video America's Response Monument
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Artist, sculptor Douwe Blumberg, has been a horse trainer for 18 years and is a fan of military history. He has completed more than 200 private and public commissions and has received many awards. He was inspired to start the statue with a photograph by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presented at a press conference at the Great Lakes Navy Training Center, Illinois, on November 16, 2001, shortly after US troops entered Afghanistan.
As part of Operation Enduring Freedom, President George W. Bush sent secret troops to Afghanistan to help the Northern Alliance defeat the Taliban. The group, called Task Force Dagger, is a joint Combined Operations team composed of Green Beret from the 5th Special Forces Group, aircrew members from the 160th Special Operations Flight Regiment ("Nightstalkers"), and Air Force Combat Controllers.
Flights to Afghanistan
The Operation Detachment Team of Alpha 595 (ODA 595) consisting of 12 people, together with two Air Force combat controllers, is the second group of Duty Trashed Units entering Afghanistan. In the first operation of its kind, they were flown from a Soviet air base, now named Karshi-Khanabad Air Base, in Uzbekistan over 300 kilometers (190 million) across the 16,000 ft (4,900 m) Hindu Kush mountains at zero. -quality feasibility by the Chinook MH-47E Chinook helicopter. They were dropped to the farmers field at 0200 on October 19, 2001, about 80 km (50 mi) south of Mazar-i-Sharif in the Dari-a-Souf Valley, south of Mazar-e-Sharif. The team arrived just 39 days after the Al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Center for what they thought would be a long year. They are connected with the Northern Alliance led by General Dostum.
Horse transport
Once they arrive in the country, they need transportation that fits the difficult mountainous terrain in Northern Afghanistan. Afghan tribes offer the only available transportation men: a small Afghan horse. Only two men have horse riding experience. Captain Mark Nutsch, commander of ODA-595, who grew up on a horse riding farm, gave quick lessons to others.
Captain Will Summers, leader of the Special Forces team, said, "It's as if The Jetsons have met The Flintstones." Most inexperienced riders immediately ask for a replacement for the traditional small, hard, wooden saddles used by Afghan soldiers. A sleek, Australian-style saddle dropped in mid-air in mid-November. The last US Army unit to fight on a horse was the 26th US Army Cavendry Regiment. On January 16, 1942, G forces confronted Japanese troops in Morong village and Lt. Edwin P. Ramsey ordered a cavalry attack. The last troop to receive training on horseback was the 28th Cavalry in 1943.
Initial attack on the Taliban
On October 21, the Northern Alliance led by General Dostum was set up to attack the Bishqab fortified village, which was defended by the Taliban equipped with several T-54/55 tanks, a number of BMP (armored personnel carriers) armed with cannons and machine guns, and some anti-aircraft artillery ZSU-23. The Northern Alliance comprises about 1,500 cavalry and 1,500 light infantry. They were assisted by 12 members of the US Special Forces and American air force team. To reach the enemy, they cross a seven-mile open plain cut by seven ridges that will make them completely exposed to enemy fire. For US Special Forces, it looks like Charge of the Light Brigade, Battle of Fredericksburg, and Pickett's Charge in Gettysburg, all at the same time. Backed by American air power and precision-guided ammunition, they managed to attack the Taliban, many of them throwing away their weapons and running away.
The next day, the Northern Alliance prepared to attack C'baki, Balkh Province, 121 kilometers (75 miles) south of Mazar-i-Sharif. The US Special Ops Team uses SOFLAM Laser Target Designators to identify targeted air strikes on enemy and artillery armors. The Northern Alliance follows this with the horseback riding. When it looks like the Dostum cavalry forces will fail, some ODA members 595 go in action and help win the battle. "It feels like coming out of the Old Testament," Lieutenant Colonel Max Bowers, former commander of three teams of Special Forces horses, said. "You think Cecil B. DeMille will be filming and Charlton Heston should be out."
Army photo
During a press conference on November 15, 2001, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld displayed a photo of ODA 595 riding a field on top of Afghan horses. When the sculptor Blumberg saw the picture, he said he was "stunned" and was impressed that he had to do something.
Being a military historian, a former horseman and a patriot, I am just fascinated by the image of 21st century high-tech soldiers on what could be a 15th-century Afghan horse. It's iconic and ironic at the same time, on many levels. First, the adaptability of these people - they are not trained on horseback. They had just climbed and left... the first Americans to fight in horses in more than 50 years. So I looked at this picture and said, 'I have to do this.'
"The irony of a 21st-century high-tech military army mounted on an erratic Afghan horse, unchanged for centuries, fascinated me." Regardless of the various high-tech military equipment they bring to the battlefield, it is a reliable Afghan horses that are crucial to the success of the campaign. The mounted US troops are known as "horsemen".
Maps America's Response Monument
Production
Initial design
After seeing a photo of the modern army on horseback, Blumberg decided to make a statue to commemorate the actions of members of the US Special Operations service in response to the 9/11 attacks, including Special Operations troops who fought in the early stages of Operation Enduring Freedom. On his own initiative and cost, Blumberg took three months to complete a 1: 6 bronze statue, 18 inches (460 mm) tall from a Green Beret on Afghan horse. In 2002, while at an exhibition in Louisville, Kentucky, he took a job that was walking with him. A Vietnamese Green Beret sees the work and tells Lieutenant Colonel Frank Hudson of the 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell about the statue, called Blumberg. Blumberg sent him photographs of the work. Hudson sees a number of inconsistencies in the statue with the reality of what is happening on the field.
The first version generates
Blumberg was invited to Fort Campbell where he met a team member who had just returned from Afghanistan. Captain Mark Nutsch, commander of ODA-595, who grew up on a horse riding farm, helped criticize the statue for Blumberg. Blumberg soon learned that the statue he thought was completed was very inaccurate and required considerable additional work. The soldiers show the Blumberg nailed indigenous horse made of dry muscle they carry from the war. Blumberg got a male phone number and started collaborating with them to produce a very accurate representation of their team members on horseback. Blumberg invites some of them to his studio where they work closely with him.
Small version created
Blumberg took three months to sculpt back the piece until he was sure he got the horse and soldier properly. "This job is something that makes me emotional," Blumberg said. "It allows me to honor the army, capture the unique aspect of their service and then have a chance to put it in New York.I can not make the script better. It's very powerful to me."
Blumberg transmits 120 18 inch (460 mm) pieces for public sale and another 120 for sale at the cost of special forces members. On March 5, 2004, he presented a copy of his completed work to the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum, a regimental museum for the US Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg. In 2003, the non-profit Foundation for US History Monuments was formed to help build a monumental version, but their efforts were in vain.
Wall Street supporters
Eight years later, in March 2011, he received a call from a group of New York New York Street bankers who lost friends and co-workers in the 9/11 attacks. Two of each Wall Street supporters say they are being asked by family and friends if there is a place where people can remember US troops abroad that day-to-day fight against potential terrorist threats. "We want to do something for the special operations community and all branches of military service, because every day since 9/11, we have to see the hole in the ground," said one personal supporter. "What everyone needs to know is: There are people out there like this team, like the Green Beret, who are willing to sacrifice in every way for them."
Cast large-scale version
The bankers wanted a large-scale version to lead the Veterans Day parade just six months later. They assign Blumberg to build a monument to be placed near Ground Zero, paying $ 500,000 for the job. The Gary Sinese Foundation and the Green Baret Foundation support efforts to build the monument. No public funds are used.
Blumberg lives in DeMossville, Kentucky. However, much of the work on the bronze monument was done by Foundry Crucible in Norman, Oklahoma, a full-service foundry specializing in bronze monumental. To get the job done on time for the Nov. 11 parade, Blumberg spent many weeks in place at the foundry.
Description
This 5,000-kilogram (2,300 kg) bronze statue is 16 feet (4.9 m) high, including a 3-foot (0.91 m) granite platen. This base has the title of the statue, "American Response Monument." The statue is titled De Oppresso Liber , which is Latin for "liberating the oppressed", the Green Beret motto.
This illustrates the Special Forces of the Green Baret riding horses leading the invasion of Afghanistan. She holds the glass of the field in one hand. An M4 with an attached grenade launcher struck beneath his shoulders. The outline of the wedding ring is seen under the left armor of the soldier. Blumberg said, "That's the way I give a tip to my wife, marriage, and family pressure. This is to acknowledge the pressure caused by some application." Blumberg creates the face of the statue without using a model or photograph. It does not represent the face of a particular individual.
Afghan "Lokai" small horse shows "Tersk" nursery, showing the horse of Eastern European heritage descended from horses carried by the Soviets in the 1980s. In Afghan culture, the soldiers just ride the stallion to the battlefield. The horses can be difficult to control, and the statue depicts a raised horse. The horse nails described by Blumberg are traditional for the Aghani people. A fringe of breasts helps keep flies from the chest and legs. The base of the statue reflects the steep, steep slopes that are often passed by the horsemen.
Steel World Trade Center
During the battle against the Taliban, each Team ODA Beret Green brought a piece of steel found from the ruins of the World Trade Center to honor the victims of 9/11. Later during the war, they each bury their steel pieces at a significant point in the battle. Bowers chose Mazar-i-Sharif as the location to bury his World Trade Center section. This is the location of one of their toughest battles and where CIA officer Mike Spann became the first American to die in action in Afghanistan.
Like a respected warrior, the statue carries a piece of steel from the World Trade Center. It is seen below the base, embedded in the base. The monument inscription states that the steel "symbolizes the relationship between 9/11 events and the actions of the special operating hero of this honor monument."
Dedication
The statue was introduced to the public during the Veterans' Day Parade in New York City on November 11, 2011. The statue was shown in a float that led the parade along Fifth Avenue from 23rd Street to 56th Street north. It was dedicated on the same day in a ceremony led by Vice President Joe Biden and Lieutenant General John Mulholland, commander of the Special Operations Command and former Commander of the Duty Task Force during the early days of the War in Afghanistan. The New York City iron worker who helped build the World Trade Center was among those who helped carry, transport and install a temporary statue on the West Street Lobby inside One World Financial Center in New York City across Ground Zero.
This is the first publicly accessible monument to US special forces. The Statue of Special War Memorial, commemorating the actions of the Green Beret troops in the Vietnam War, was placed on Memorial Meadows Square in Fort Bragg, North Carolina on 19 November 1969, but all visitors had to pass through basic security. The land at One World Trade Center for the monument was donated by a private Wall Street company.
Rededication at One World Trade Center
The statue was restored on October 19, 2012 by General John Mulholland. He dedicated the statue at his new location in front of the One World Trade Center across Ground Zero and 9/11 Memorial. The bronze statue is positioned in such a way that the soldiers on the horse watchfully watch the World Trade Center and the tenants. Soldiers representing the US Army Special Operations Command attended the ceremony. On rededication, the entire cost of the statue of more than $ 750,000 has been paid by hundreds of civilians.
Moved to Liberty Park
On September 13, 2016, the statue was re-disbursed on a permanent site in a higher room on the south side of Ground Zero in Liberty Park, a 1-acre (0.40 ha) park in Lower Manhattan. The park is built on the Vehicle Safety Center of the World Trade Center Center and overlooks the September 11th National Memorial & amp; Museum.
In popular culture
In 2009, Disney purchased film rights for Doug Stanton's book, Horse Soldiers and Jerry Bruckheimer began searching for funding in December 2011. The war drama film of 2018 12 Strong , directed by Nicolai Fuglsig and written by Ted Tally and Peter Craig, was released on January 19, 2018. The statue was featured in the last few moments of the movie before the credits were shown.
References
Further reading
- Stanton, Doug (2009). Horse Soldiers: The Extraordinary Story of a Winning US Army Band in Afghanistan (First News Scribel hardcover.). New York: Scribner. ISBN: 978-1-4165-8051-5.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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