OvS Honors All Veterans This Veteran’s Day 2012

Today is Veterans Day and Oehme, van Sweden would like to honor all veterans and their families and remember their sacrifice for their country.

Our thoughts also turn today to those closer to home who have touched our own lives with their service and sacrifice. This article in the latest issue of America in World War II Magazine entitled “ The Bloodying of Bloody Ridge” highlights the events on Guadalcanal and the venerable Edson’s Raiders’ taking of this strategic landform during the early warfare of the Pacific Theater in 1942. The article is based on the oral and written history of Marlin Franklin Groft, father of Eric D. Groft, Principal at OvS. In 2002, Eric accompanied his father to Guadalcanal to mark the occasion of the 60^th anniversary of the Marines landing in August 1942.

The success of taking Bloody Ridge, securing Henderson Field and Guadalcanal and the rest of the Marshall Islands turned the tide in favor of the United States and the eventual defeat of the Japanese in the Pacific. Today, Marlin is amongst the last surviving members of Edson’s Raiders and Eric was fortunate to attend the dedication of the World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington, DC with his father by his side back in May 2004. The occasion was especially poignant because OvS was the landscape architect of record for this important memorial between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument (click here to learn more about the project).

As our nation takes the time to honor our veterans, we salute both those whose service is completed and those who are currently deployed.
Click here to view the article referenced above.