War memorial update

The other day I got an email from a reader about my post on the war memorials in London and the American plot at Westminster Abbey. It was a really kind offer to financially assist the British man who pays for the US Armed Services plot.

If this plot is ever not set up, not paid for, in any given year, the plot is lost and another will take its place (almost certainly to a British regiment that currently doesn't have its own plot).

The man seemed less concerned about the money and was more worried about whether he might fall sick or die. He really wants the plot to go on and he wanted it taken over by the US Embassy. IAs I understand it, Federal law dictates that war memorials for US soliders must be on federal land or American soil. No exceptions. The reason that the Field of Remembrance plot doesn't count is that you only "rent" the land from the Church of England for a period of two weeks or so. The Federal Government can't own a piece of Westminster Abbey's front yard, and so won't maintain a memorial.

I suggested that he hand over ownership to one of the long standing US clubs, such as the American Women's Club, but I think he was concerned that these weren't reliable and long lived enough to support a monument in perpetuity. Of course, I thought his faith in US bureaucracy in the form of the Embassy was touching if perhaps a little misplaced. I've worked with government long enough to know that things slip through the cracks.

This same reader emailed me back suggesting that we set up a small trust to fund the plot. Perhaps, if the law doesn't forbid it, this could be administered and held by the Embassy but paid for by the American community in London. I'm certain we could raise the money for this, but I'd have to dig out my old financial formulas to figure out by how much we'd have to capitalise the trust. I think I will investigate.

If the law does forbid such a thing, then that's a damn shame.