Stalin bust installed at D-Day Memorial

A bust of dictator Joseph Stalin has been placed at the National D-Day Memorial in Bedford despite public protest over its presence.

The sculpture was installed at the memorial Tuesday, said William McIntosh, president of the memorial foundation.

Richard Pumphrey, a Lynchburg College professor and artist, finished the piece last year. The bust of the reviled Soviet dictator is part of a series of Allied world leaders who united against Hitler’s Germany.

McIntosh has said the intent of installing the bust is not to honor Stalin as a hero but acknowledge his role in distracting German forces, which played a part in the timing and unfolding of D-Day.

“He’s a necessary addition,” McIntosh said in a 2009 interview. “He certainly was a fact of life and a major ally during the second World War … There’s nothing about the presentation that’s going to be flattering of Stalin.”

In an interview with The News & Advance last year, Pumphrey said leaving the dictator out of the lineup of Allied leaders was similar to leaving Judas Iscariot out of the famous Last Supper painting by Leonardo Da Vinci. Pumphrey said in the interview he viewed Stalin a “terrible person.”

Residents and leaders in Bedford have spoken out against installing the Stalin piece at the memorial.

Annie Pollard, a Bedford County supervisor who has volunteered at the memorial, said Wednesday it has been a source of controversy in Bedford and she feels its presence is “a slap in the face to all these other people we honor and remember.”

“I just don’t think it belongs on the hill with them,” Pollard. “To me, he (Stalin) is just a murderer. I just can’t see how he fits in with the memorial. They are people we want to remember. He’s someone I’d rather forget.”

James Morrison, of Moneta, said Wednesday he has opposed the Stalin bust since the memorial announced it in 2007.

He and veterans of Bedford’s Post 54 of the American Legion have met with McIntosh to oppose the installation and he has personally written letters, he said.

Morrison volunteers at the memorial and authored a book in 2004 titled “Bedford Goes to War: The Heroic Story of a Small Virginia Community in World War II.”

He said the memorial receives a portion of the proceeds for his book sales — he said because of the Stalin bust he is suspending his volunteering and donations until he learns the stance of a new memorial foundation president. McIntosh is retiring this month and a successor has not yet been named.

“It’s a disgrace and a dishonor to the veterans,” Morrison said of the Stalin bust.
Morrison said he respects the importance of remembering history but the memorial’s sole purpose is to honor the valor, fidelity and sacrifice of D-Day veterans.

“It’s not a history museum, it’s not a wax museum,” said Morrison.

Other busts at the memorial include Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry Truman and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The costs for each of the sculptures is at least $50,000, which is paid through donations and covers Pumphrey’s commission, a pedestal, a plaque and maintenance, McIntosh has said. The funding comes from donors and cannot be used for other purposes, he has said.

The plaque that accompanies the Stalin bust reads: “In memory of the tens of millions who died under Stalin’s rule and in tribute to all whose valor, fidelity, and sacrifice denied him and his successors victory in the cold war.”

The memorial is commemorating the 66th anniversary of D-Day on Sunday.