The Pennsylvania Railroad World War II Memorial is a monument on the main concourse of

30th Street Station 30th Street Station, officially William H. Gray III 30th Street Station, is a major intermodal passenger transport, intermodal transit station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The station opened in 1933 as Pennsylvania Station– ...

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. It commemorates the 1,307

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad ( reporting mark PRR), legal name as the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, also known as the "Pennsy," was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At its ...

employees who died in

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

The monument features a 28-foot (8.53 m) heroic-sized bronze sculpture, ''Angel of the Resurrection'', that portrays

Michael the Archangel Michael, also called Saint Michael the Archangel, Archangel Michael and Saint Michael the Taxiarch is an archangel and the warrior of God in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. The earliest surviving mentions of his name are in third- and second- ...

lifting up the soul of a dead soldier from the "flames of war". The sculpture is set upon an 11-foot (3.35 m) black-granite base, with two inscribed dedications and four bronze plaques listing the 1,307 names in alphabetical order. The work was designed and created by

Walker Hancock Walker Kirtland Hancock (June 28, 1901 – December 30, 1998) was an American sculptor and teacher. He created notable monumental sculptures, including the World War I Soldiers' Memorial (1936–1938) in St. Louis, Missouri; and the Pennsylvani ...

(1901–1998), Instructor of Sculpture at the

Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA) is a museum and private art school in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1805, it is the longest continuously operating art museum and art school in the United States. The academy's museum ...

. Hancock served in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

during World War II, and had been one of the "Monuments Men" who recovered art looted by the Nazis. The monument is unusual in its intense verticality, which was inspired by the tall

Corinthian column The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

s of the concourse's east

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

behind it. Viewing the monument is particularly dramatic in the morning, when it is

silhouette A silhouette (, ) is the image of a person, animal, object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, with its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the silhouett ...

d against sunlight streaming through the four-story windows between the columns. It remains Hancock's most famous work, and was his personal favorite. The memorial was dedicated on August 10, 1952. Army General Omar Bradley,

chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: appointment; gra ...

, spoke at the ceremony. It was unveiled by Army Sergeant Robert E. Laws, a sheet-metal worker at the Pennsylvania Railroad's

Altoona Works Altoona Works (also known as Altoona Terminal) is a large railroad industrial complex in Altoona, Pennsylvania. It was built between 1850 and 1925 by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR), to supply the railroad with locomotives, railroad cars and rel ...

and a recipient of the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...

for his bravery in combat in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. The two inscriptions read: * IN MEMORY OF THE MEN AND WOMEN OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD WHO LAID DOWN THEIR LIVES FOR OUR COUNTRY 1941–1945. * THAT ALL TRAVELERS HERE MAY REMEMBER THOSE OF THE PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD WHO DID NOT RETURN FROM THE SECOND WORLD WAR. Hancock bequeathed his one-third-scale plaster model to the

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the list of largest art museums, 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 painting ...

. Following years in storage, it was restored and placed on permanent exhibit in the new Art of the Americas Wing, in November 2010.Plaster model
from Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. File:30th Street Station main (east) entrance with Angel of the Resurection.jpg, Main Concourse,

, looking east. File:30thStreetStation-AngelOfTheResurrection-Detail.jpg, The sculpture viewed from below. File:30thStreetStation-AngelOfTheResurrection cropped.jpg, Inscription on the front of the monument; another is on the back.

References

Bibliography

* Hancock, Walker. "The Pennsylvania Railroad Memorial", ''American Artist'' 16 (October 1952), pp. 28–31. * James-Gadzinski, Susan & Cunningham, Mary Mullen. "Walker Hancock, b. 1901", ''American Sculpture in the Museum of American Art of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts'' (PAFA, 1997), pp. 279–85.

External links

Hancock discusses creating the memorial in a 1977 interview
{{Walker Hancock Monuments and memorials in Philadelphia Pennsylvania Railroad World War II memorials in the United States 1952 sculptures Bronze sculptures in Pennsylvania Philadelphia Register of Historic Places University City, Philadelphia Statues in Pennsylvania Sculptures of men in Pennsylvania 1952 establishments in Pennsylvania Sculptures by Walker Hancock