Informations about the Monument, day by day

4th Term 99
Informations concerning the Monument during the 4th Term of 99 :

Plaster cast trial bust - © P. Cottencin - November 99. Don't search for any resemblance, this is an anonymous study face.

Monument construction is under progress. The sculptor Patrick Cottencin, whom we visited at work repeatedly in his studio at Boisville-la-Saint-Père, near Chartres, finished the model of the four soldiers, sketched some busts in plaster, and advanced in his search of resemblance.

To protect the sensibility of families, and to manage some effect of surprise, no face will be presented, on this site or anywhere else, before the inauguration.

According to the choices made during the last meetings - General Meeting and Board Meeting - the Monument of the 90th Division will be reinforced by a Monument to Civilians.

• Monument of the 90th US Division : with the four GI's whose names are already known of you, Andrew J. Speese, Virgil J. Tangborn, Richard E. Richtman and Tullio Micaloni. This Monument will be placed at first (for the inauguration) in front of Tollemer House. The final position of this monument is under study.
  An idea makes its way : the circle of the Coutances's road does not appear any more to us as the ideal place for our monument (the passing-by vehicles neither encourages strolling nor meditation). We would rather see it in a clearing, in the entrance of the Memory Walk. There again, we shall be attentive to the opinion of competent persons in matter of town planning. We shall submit in the coming days our project to the pupils of the National School of Architecture in Paris, who agreed to work on this subject within the frame of their practical works.

• The Monument to Civilians : A few steps away from the American soldiers, we plan to add the sculptures of a woman and a little boy, this also to honour the civilians. We had at first thought of a man and a young girl, but the idea of the woman was suggested to us by an inhabitant of Périers, attending the General Meeting. Our Board of Directors officially adopted it during its meeting last November 2. Why a woman ? Because she will symbolize these millions of wives who, all alone, continued to make the country living. The little boy, it is a note of hope, the found again freedom, the faith in the future. The attitude, the expression and the exact situation of these two persons are still to be defined. We shall also get the opinion of the sculptor.
  If everything goes ahead as expected, this monument will be also inaugurated on next June 4, and will be implanted, at least in the beginning, in front of the Tollemer House.
• To these two sets of sculptures, one should add the busts of the airmen Ben Kitchens and Burt Espy, the P47's pilots of the 404th Fighter Group, fallen at Périers. We had already evoked them in our report of meeting of last May 5. Eventually, these busts will be placed inside the Permanent Exhibition Center. An important file is in preparation on this tragic episode, be patient.

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3rd Term 99
Informations concerning the Monument during the 3rd Term of 99 :

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2nd Term 99

Above : "Final" model of the Monument, designed by © P. Cottencin.

Informations concerning the Monument during the 2nd Term of 99 :

After the former study models designed by Patrick Cottencin, here is the first picture of the "final" model.

Built of reinforced resin, the work will look like bronze. To give a soul and a face to these soldiers, faces will be the ones of Andrew J. Speese, Virgil J. Tangborn and Richard E. Richtman, as agreed upon to the Association by their relatives. All three of them took part in the June 1944 landing.

Note : Thanks to the success of the Subscription, as well in France as in the United-States, the Association has decided to add a fourth man to the Monument. He will be Tullio Micaloni, symbolizing "the guys in the tanks".

The Faces of the Monument

When the Board of Directors last met on May 5, André Aubert, Local Councilor and Member of the Board of Directors, showed the sketch of the lay-out planned by the Local Council :

• The Monument should take place on a traffic circle to be built in 2001 at the city limit, on the main way to Coutances.
• While waiting for the end of the works, the Monument would be temporary located in front of the Tollemer house. Look at its location on our City Map of Périers, and on the Memorial detailed Map.

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1st Term 99
Informations concerning the Monument during the 1st Term of 99 :

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4th Term 98
Informations concerning the Monument during the 4th Term of 98 :

The sculptor already showed us several of his preliminary plans (models, sketches). Just a few details are still to be improved before starting the real performance of the masterpiece.

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