April 19, 2024
The American Battle Monuments Foundation (ABMF) is the official nonprofit partner of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC), the U.S. federal agency charged with managing and maintaining all American cemeteries and monuments overseas. The ABMF mission honors the sacrifices of the more than 218,000 men and women who fought to protect our freedoms, died, and are buried or missing away from the homeland.
Troutman Pepper has been a longtime supporter of the ABMF, and Partner James D. Rosener serves as the group’s chairman.
The ABMF Past is Prologue Essay Contest, now in its third year, invites students to compete within their age cohorts 11-12, 13-15, and 16-18.
Two topics are offered for 2024 and have a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) focus. Both relate to the build-up before the WWII D-Day invasions along the Normandy coast: Operation Bodyguard, the deception campaign to fool the Nazis as to where and when the Allied assaults would occur; and claiming Air Dominance, a survey of how the B-17 bomber, P51 Mustang fighters, and the C47 transport planes and gliders, taken together, gave the Allies air superiority over and behind enemy lines. With no “right” answers, two mandatory questions must be answered:
- What lessons from this specific event are useful for us today?
- What difference did this event make to your own life today and for your future?
Essays are due April 12, and winners will be announced on September 24.