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Page Number: 15

8 

AMERICAN LEGION v. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSN. 

Opinion of the Court 

right  is  more  precious than  peace.    We  shall  fight  for  the 
things we have always carried nearest our hearts.  To such 
a task we dedicate our lives.”  Ibid. 
  At  the  dedication  ceremony,  a  local  Catholic  priest 
offered  an  invocation.    Id.,  at  217–218.    United  States 
Representative  Stephen  W.  Gambrill  delivered  the  key-
note address, honoring the “ ‘men of Prince George’s County’ ” 
who  “ ‘fought  for  the  sacred  right  of  all  to  live  in  peace  
and  security.’ ”    Id.,  at  1372.    He  encouraged  the  commu- 
nity to look to the “ ‘token of this cross, symbolic of Calvary,’ ” 
to  “ ‘keep  fresh  the  memory  of  our  boys  who  died  for  a 
righteous  cause.’ ”    Ibid.    The  ceremony  closed  with  a 
benediction offered by a Baptist pastor. 

 Since its dedication, the Cross has served as the site of 
patriotic  events  honoring  veterans,  including  gatherings 
on  Veterans  Day,  Memorial  Day,  and  Independence  Day.  
Like  the  dedication  itself,  these  events  have  typically 
included an invocation, a keynote speaker, and a benedic-
tion.    Id.,  at  182,  319–323.    Over  the  years,  memorials 
honoring  the  veterans  of  other  conflicts  have  been  added 
to the surrounding area, which is now known as Veterans 
Memorial  Park.    These  include  a  World  War  II  Honor 
Scroll;  a  Pearl  Harbor  memorial;  a  Korea-Vietnam  veter-
ans  memorial;  a  September  11  garden;  a  War  of  1812 
memorial;  and  two  recently  added  38-foot-tall  markers 
depicting  British  and  American  soldiers  in  the  Battle  of 
Bladensburg.  Id., at 891–903, 1530.  Because the Cross is 
located on a traffic island with limited space, the closest of 
these  other  monuments  is  about  200  feet  away  in  a  park 
across the road.  Id., at 36, 44. 
  As the area around the Cross developed, the monument 
came  to  be  at  the  center  of  a  busy  intersection.    In  1961, 
the  Maryland-National  Capital  Park  and  Planning  Com-
mission (Commission) acquired the Cross and the land on 
which  it  sits  in  order  to  preserve  the  monument  and  ad-