Monuments were important to communities, to counties, and to individuals during in 20th century. Today, we argue the value of many such monuments. While we can generally recognize a Civil War piece of art, those created to honor World War I and World War II men are less distinctive. Such is the case at the Hunt County Courthouse.
Sometimes we forget that two wars, deadly, devastating and created by rulers craving total control occurred in the last century. World War I began in August 1914 and was formally ended on November 11, 1918 with the signing of the Armistice. World War II began in September 1938 when Hitler’s troops invaded Poland. It officially ended in August 1945 when Japan surrendered. But while these are definitive dates, the truth is that tensions continued from 1914 to the end of the Cold War. Various dates exist for the end of the Cold War, but let’s use 1991 when the Berlin Wall came down.
For the most part the same countries fought almost the same wars during that time period. It’s easy to confuse those times and events, to say nothing of weapons. That seems to have been what confused me. The howitzer found on the courthouse square was built by the Japanese military in the 1930s for the Sino-Japanese War (China v. Japan). It was later used in the Pacific Theater of World War II. So, it didn’t arrive in Greenville until after 1945, probably 1946-47.
Once the US government released all these weapons, citizens were usually irate when they learned the armaments were used to kill American soldiers and sailors. Personally, I don’t blame them. Yet, it was cool to have a cannon, or howitzer, or tank parked out on the courthouse lawn. It’s also possible to find jet fighters planes on children’s playgrounds in some places.
The first cannon was probably given to Greenville by 1929 when the courthouse was dedicated. It was probably German made like one that arrived on the campus of East Texas Normal College in 1928. These artillery pieces were valuable for their heavy metals. So, when World War II came along and the United States had given away their weapons, scrap metal drives collected most if not all of the old weapons. Very little is known about the first one in Greenville, except it made it to the scrap metal dump.
The one we have today was definitely built by the Japanese, used in the Sino-Japanese War, as well as World War II. Because Greenville or Hunt County had forfeited their earlier cannon, they were granted another weapon. That is what is on the square today. But it’s placement there created quite a ruckus, I understand.
Isn’t is interesting how public opinion changes as time goes by.