War memorials

France: Sommepy American Memorial

Architect: Arthur Loomis Harmon
Owners: American Battle Monuments Commission
Location: Marne, France

North of Sommepy-Tahure is the Sommepy American Memorial at Blanc Mont, a tower erected in 1930-37 to commemorate the 70,000 U.S. troops who served in this region in 1918. The architect was Arthur Loomis Harmon of New York, one of the architects used by the American Battle Monuments Commission. A former assistant with McKim, Mead & White, he designed several skyscrapers and later became a partner with Shreve & Lamb, architects of the Empire State Building, and was later responsible for the YMCA in Jerusalem. As at Ferme de Navarin, the Sommepy monument was left surrounded by the remains of trenches and the devastation of war.

Gavin Stamp