307th INFANTRY REGIMENT MEMORIAL GROVE
Central Park, New York City
The 307th Infantry Regiment Memorial Grove is an area of
Central Park located nearest the East 69th Street, and also near the
larger East 72nd Street, entrances to the Park on Fifth Avenue.
About a five-minute walk from either entrance, the Grove is
slightly east of the Naumberg Bandshell and just south of the Rumsey
Playfield (Summer Stage). It is surrounded by a
paved walkway.
Click here to view a diagram of the present Grove.
The Grove originally included at least 18 young oak trees
planted by veterans of the 307th in a series of
ceremonies in 1920-1922.
Click here to view a history of some of those trees and ceremonies.
Sixteen of these trees were dedicated to the memory of the
WWI dead of each of the 16 companies or other units of the regiment.
When the trees were small, they were protected by iron
enclosures, each of which bore a brass plaque, in the shape of a
shield, which identified the regimental company and its fallen
members.
Click here to view an
archival photo of six young company trees with their enclosures and
plaques.
Sometime later, those iron enclosures were removed and the
plaques were placed on the sloping tops of small, white, concrete
pedestals which were installed next to each of 14 of the company
trees. One of these company pedestals and plaques
honors the fallen of three of the companies or other units of the
regiment (i.e., HQ Company, Supply Company and the Sanitary
Detachment), and the other 13 company pedestals and plaques honor
the fallen of each of its 13 other companies (i.e., Companies A, B,
C, D, E, F, G, H, I, K, L, M and Machine Gun).
Today, a number of the original company trees, and some of the other
original trees planted in the Grove, are missing.
[Click on images to enlarge]
Sometime in 1926-1928, a small, natural boulder monument,
with an inscription on the front and a bronze tablet on the rear,
was added to the collective monument.
Click
here to view the 1926 permits for installation of the boulder
monument. The inscription on the front of the boulder
(facing the walkway along the southern edge of the Grove) reads: “TO
THE DEAD OF THE 307TH INFANTRY A ⋅ E ⋅ F,
509 OFFICERS AND MEN, 1917-1919". The bronze
tablet on the rear of the boulder listed the 16 companies or other
units of the 307th and the names of the members of each of them who
fell during WWI.
In or about 1997, the original bronze tablet on the rear of
the boulder was stolen by vandals. Fortunately, a
similar tablet existed at the Headquarters of the 77th
Regional Support Command in the Ernie Pyle USAR Center, Fort Totten,
NY. In cooperation with the 307th
Infantry Veterans Society, the 77th RSC arranged for a
replacement bronze tablet to be installed on the boulder in 1998.
[Click on images to enlarge]
Sometime after the dedications of the 307th memorial trees
and boulder in the Grove, another organization, the Knights of
Pythias, inserted a partly hewn vertical stone east of the formation
of 307th company trees and pedestals. This
Knights of Pythias stone memorializes ten of their WWI dead, only
one of whom served in the 307th. Although still
located at the Grove, this Knights of Pythias stone is not part of
the collective monument of company trees, plaques and pedestals, and
the boulder, dedicated to the memory of the 307th Infantry Regiment.
Following both WWI and WWII, and continuing at least through
the 1990s, veterans of the 307th held numerous memorial
ceremonies in the Grove. Since 2006, the 77th
Infantry Division Reserve Officers Association, in conjunction with
the 307th Infantry Veterans Society, has held annual
Commemoration Ceremonies in the Grove in June, to honor all serving
and fallen members of the 307th and other units of the 77th
Infantry Division and its successor commands.
Articles and Photo Albums of some of these joint ceremonies can be
viewed under the “News & Events” tab of this web site.
During a Commemoration Ceremony held on 9 June 2012, the 307th
Infantry Veterans Society dedicated three brass plaques, honoring
the fallen members of Companies C, H and M, which replaced three
plaques that had been removed from their pedestals and stolen by
vandals over the years. These three replacement plaques were
commissioned by the Society to resemble the other surviving plaques
(some of which appear themselves to be replacements of the
originals) as closely as possible, and the names on them were based
on extensive historical research.
Click here to read about
some historical sources. The program for this ceremony contained
proof diagrams of these plaques, and a brief history of each of
them.
Click
here to view the program for the ceremony on 9 June 2012.
After that ceremony in 2012, the Central Park Conservancy,
which administers all of the Park for the New York City Department
of Parks and Recreation, planted new grass and made numerous other
needed improvements to the appearance of the Grove.
Ever since the end of WWII, in which the 307th Infantry Regiment fought with distinction in the Pacific Theater, the 307th Infantry Veterans Society has hoped to be able to complete the design of the Grove by installing a second natural boulder monument and bronze tablet, complementing the existing WWI monument, to honor the 713 members of the regiment who perished during WWII. Click here to view a 1948 photo of the Grove and WWII Honor Rolls of the 307th. The 77th Infantry Division Reserve Officers Association is attempting to help them achieve this goal.
[Click on images to enlarge]