Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-1717_4f14.pdf
Page Number: 14.0

Cite as:  588 U. S. ____ (2019) 

7 

Opinion of the Court 

orating  the  Memory  of  those  who  have  not  Died  in 
Vain.”  Id., at. 1251. 

  Many  of  those  who  responded  were  local  residents  who 
gave small amounts: Donations of 25 cents to 1 dollar were 
the  most  common.    Id.,  at  1014.    Local  businesses  and 
political leaders assisted in this effort.  Id., at 1014, 1243.  
In  writing  to  thank  United  States  Senator  John  Walter 
Smith  for  his  donation,  committee  treasurer  Mrs.  Martin 
Redman explained that “[t]he chief reason I feel as deeply 
in this matter [is that], my son, [Wm.] F. Redman, lost his 
life in France and because of that I feel that our memorial 
cross is, in a way, his grave stone.”  Id., at 1244. 
  The  Cross  was  to  stand  at  the  terminus  of  another 
World  War  I  memorial—the  National  Defense  Highway, 
which connects Washington to Annapolis.  The community 
gathered  for  a  joint  groundbreaking  ceremony  for  both 
memorials on September 28, 1919; the mother of the first 
Prince  George’s  County  resident  killed  in  France  broke 
ground for the Cross.  Id., at 910.  By 1922, however, the 
committee had run out of funds, and progress on the Cross 
had  stalled.    The  local  post  of  the  American  Legion  took 
over the project, and the monument was finished in 1925. 
  The  completed  monument  is  a  32-foot  tall  Latin  cross 
that  sits  on  a  large  pedestal.    The  American  Legion’s 
emblem  is  displayed  at  its  center,  and  the  words  “Valor,” 
“Endurance,”  “Courage,”  and  “Devotion”  are  inscribed  at 
its  base,  one  on  each  of  the  four faces.    The  pedestal  also 
features a 9- by 2.5-foot bronze plaque explaining that the 
monument  is  “Dedicated  to  the  heroes  of  Prince  George’s 
County,  Maryland  who  lost  their  lives  in  the  Great  War 
for  the  liberty  of  the  world.”    Id.,  at  915  (capitalization 
omitted).  The plaque lists the names of 49 local men, both 
Black  and  White,  who  died  in  the  war.    It  identifies  the 
dates  of  American  involvement,  and  quotes  President 
Woodrow  Wilson’s  request  for  a  declaration  of  war:  “The