
一 | NEW YORK -- If people really looked for history at the New York City building where the Triangle Shirtwaist factory once existed, they could find it. There are plaques pointing out that it was the site of a horrific fire in 1911 that became a catalyst in the American labor movement's fight for workplace safety protections.But for some, a few words on a wall aren't nearly enough to honor the fire's 146 victims.So after years of effort, the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition on Wednesday is dedicating a new memorial that has no chance of being overlooked.A giant steel ribbon with the names of those who died in the disaster, predominantly women and girls, has been installed running horizontally from one corner of the building. Underneath it, a reflective panel shows the stenciled names as well as quotes from people who were there, describing the mayhem. In the coming weeks, a vertical steel column will be added to the corner to span almost the entire height of the building, a reference to how high up the victims were stuck.It’s the story of desperate immigrant women, mostly Jewish and Italian, who were trapped by a door that was locked because there were no workplace safety rules that said it couldn’t be. Some jumped to their deaths from the windows to avoid the flames.“What they will see is a memorial that tries to build into the object itself the history of the fire, a history of working women, a history of Italians and Jews, a history of tragedy, but then also a history of change,” said Mary Anne Trasciatti, a Hofstra University professor and president of the coalition.The victims were close to the end of their working day on March 25, 1911, when a fire started on the eighth floor of the clothing factory, which took up the top floors of a building now owned by New York University.Frantic workers tried to get out as the flames spread to the ninth and 10th floors, some scrambling to get into an elevator, others heading for the roof. But others who tried to get past a door to escape found it locked, trapping them inside. At a trial of the factory’s owners afterward, some said the door had been kept locked on purpose, over theft concerns.Firefighters responded quickly. But their ladders were too short to get to the topmost floors.Horrified witnesses in the crowd watched as workers leapt from the windows. Among those bystanders was the late Frances Perkins, already an anti-poverty advocate trying to change workplace conditions, and who became even more dedicated after what she saw that day.“It really started her in her push for ‘we have to treat workers better,’” said Ileen DeVault, professor of labor history at Cornell University.Some of her words recollecting the day are part of the memorial, running along the reflective panel. “Every one of them was killed, everybody who jumped was killed.”Perkins would be part of a state commission that put a series of safety rules in place in New York that were emulated elsewhere, and later became an integral part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s cabinet as his secretary of labor. She pushed for policies like minimum wage, workers compensation, and old age pensions.One of the names on the memorial will be that of Rosie Weiner, who died in the blaze, but whose sister and fellow factory worker, Katie Weiner, made it out alive.Later, Weiner would recount how she grabbed an elevator cable to make her escape. Today, her great-niece, Suzanne Pred Bass, is on the board of the Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition. Growing up, Bass knew her great-aunt had lived through the fire, but it wasn’t until years later that she heard about Rosie.Bass’ mother remembered accompanying her mother as a small child to the pier where the victims' bodies were taken after the fire.“She never forgot that, she was 4 years old and I can only imagine how how scary and awful,” Bass said.Memorial designers Richard Joon Yoo and Uri Wegman wanted to find a way for modern-day people to connect with the fire and its legacy, they said. The public was invited a few years ago to contribute pieces of fabric that were joined together in a 300-foot (91-meter) “Collective Ribbon." That ribbon’s design was then etched onto the memorial steel that rises up toward the top of the building.It was important to make that connection between past and present because issues of labor, workplace protections, and how workers are treated are still far from settled in the country and the world, Yoo and Wegman said.“Everything that it talks about with women workers, immigration, labor, it’s these touch points that just keep on flaring up over and over and over again,” Yoo said, pointing out that industrial disasters, at garment factories and elsewhere, still happen around the globe.The two came up with the design for the memorial about a decade ago. It is coming to fruition, with a capital budget of about $3 million, during a year of labor activism in some U.S. industries, with strikes by auto workers, hospital staff, film and television writers and screen actors.It just shows that the Triangle Shirtwaist fire still has lessons to impart, Bass said.“We forget a tragedy like this at our own peril,” she said. “We have the same issues, immigrant issues, safe working condition issues, abuse of women in the workplace issues. It’s not like any of these issues are all fixed."。 WASHINGTON -- An African American combat medic who was wounded while landing on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion but went on to tend to dozens of troops will be posthumously honored Wednesday in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. His family and supporters continue to push for an even higher recognition they believe his heroism is owed.Cpl. Waverly B. Woodson Jr. was a 21-year-old Army medic assigned to the only African American combat unit to land in Normandy on June 6, 1944. His landing craft took heavy fire and he was wounded before even getting to the beach, but for the next 30 hours he treated 200 wounded men while under intense small arms and artillery fire before collapsing from his injuries and blood loss, according to accounts of his service.Woodson, who was born in Philadelphia and lived in Maryland with his wife, died in 2005. He spoke to The Associated Press in 1994 about his harrowing journey.“The tide brought us in, and that’s when the 88s hit us,” he said of the German 88mm guns. “They were murder. Of our 26 Navy personnel there was only one left. They raked the whole top of the ship and killed all the crew. Then they started with the mortar shells.”He survived and was awarded the Bronze Star, but by the time the award was finalized he was in Hawaii preparing for the invasion of Japan so there was little in the way of ceremony. And he was never awarded a Combat Medic Badge, which denotes that a medic has been in combat. To rectify that wrong, his former unit applied for Woodson to receive the badge and it was approved in August.His widow, Joann, and his son, Steve, will be presented with both honors during the ceremony at Arlington, where Woodson is buried.“He truly was a hero on Omaha Beach," said Capt. Kevin Braafladt, the historian for First Army. Woodson's unit, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, was part of First Army during the invasion of Nazi-occupied France. The battalion was responsible for setting up explosive-rigged balloons to deter enemy planes.At a time when the U.S. military was still segregated by race, about 2,000 African American troops are believed to have taken part in the invasion. The balloon battalion was the only African American combat unit.Woodson's supporters have been pushing for years to see him awarded the Medal of Honor for his exploits during the invasion that was key to turning the tide in the war. Although 1.2 million Black Americans served in the military during World War II, none was among the original recipients of the Medal of Honor awarded in the conflict. The Army commissioned a study in the early 1990s to analyze whether Black troops had been unjustly overlooked during an era of widespread racism and segregation in the military. Ultimately, seven Black World War II troops were awarded the Medal of Honor in 1997.At the time, Woodson's case was part of the study and the authors interviewed him. But, they wrote, his decoration case file couldn't be found and his personnel records destroyed in a 1973 fire at a military records facility. Braafladt said the U.S. military made a conscious effort to reduce paperwork after the war, and that the fire at a military records facility in Missouri also destroyed countless documents.His supporters aren't giving up. First Army and Braafladt have been on a mission to document Woodson's actions on D-Day in hopes of getting the Medal of Honor for him. Braafladt is convinced — “100%” — that Woodson was recommended at the time of the war for the Medal of Honor.One of the pieces of information pointing to that conclusion is a memo talking about how Woodson had been recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross but a top general decided the recommendation should be for the Medal of Honor instead.Braafladt first heard about Woodson's case around 2020 and has been obsessively searching for documents that will help make Woodson's case. He has not yet found the Medal of Honor recommendation letter, but along the way he has found documents he thinks buttress the case. Just last week he received the text describing Woodson's Bronze Star citation.“I’m one document away from getting an answer here and righting a wrong.” he said.U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, where Woodson's widow now lives, has also been pushing since 2015 to have Woodson honored with the Medal of Honor, and has introduced legislation to that effect in Congress.Woodson's son said in a telephone interview that his father rarely talked about World War II until late in his life and then only in bits and pieces. The family would like to see him honored with the Medal of Honor not only to shine a spotlight on his heroism but to highlight the efforts of Woodson's unit and all Black troops. Steve Woodson said he'd be disappointed if his father does not get the Medal of Honor, but he's also grateful for all the recognition and honors that have come so far. “If he gets it, that’s fabulous. If he doesn’t, we will just continue to put his legacy forward,” he said.。
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