Tribute to Navy Yard Shooting Victims Held at Statue Created by Jewish Sculptor
A memorial service was held Tuesday morning at the U.S. Navy Memorial in honor of the victims of Monday’s shooting at the Washington Navy Yard, ABC7 News reported.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and other senior Department of Defense Officials laid a wreath in front of “The Lone Sailor,” the statue created for the memorial by Jewish sculptor Stanley Bleifeld in 1987.
Bleifeld, who served in the Navy during World War II, created four sculptures for the Navy Memorial (including the famed “Homecomeing”). Other famous works include the Knights of Columbus Memorial in Connecticut, and “The Baseball Players” at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. He died in 2011.
Flags will fly at half-staff across the nation through Friday night in memory of the 12 victims of Monday’s shooting.
“This is a tragic day for the Department of Defense, the national capital area, and the nation,” Hagel said in a statement Monday.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.
If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO