The American Response Monument is dedicated to the US Special Operations Forces and their response to the attacks on America 11th September 2001.
It is situated in Liberty Park adjacent to the Ground Zero Memorial, the site of the terrorist attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre.
The monument is titled "De Oppresso Liber", ‘Freedom from Oppression’, the motto of the US Special Forces, The Green Berets.
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| American Response Monument Liberty Park |
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| American Special Forces Green Berets |
Within weeks of 9/11, American Green Berets from the 5th Special Forces Group were operating in Afghanistan, working with tribes of the Northern Alliance against the Taliban. The only form of transport that the Afghans could provide were horses, so the SF troops quickly had to learn to ride and conduct operations on horse back.
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| American Special Forces Hose Soldiers Afghanistan |
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| American Special Forces Hose Soldiers Afghanistan |
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| American Special Forces Hose Soldiers Afghanistan |
On October 21 2001, American Special Forces assisted 1,500 cavalry and 1,500 infantry from the Northern Alliance to attack the Taliban in the fortified village of Bishquab. The next day, the Northern Alliance attacked Cōbaki, in Balkh Province. Following an air strike controlled by US Special Operations teams, the Northern Alliance launched a cavalry charge. When it looked like the cavalry charge would fail, several members from SF Operational Detachment 595 rode into action and helped win the battle.
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| U.S. Special Operations and Afghani forces on horseback northern Afghanistan during October 2001 |
After seeing the above photograph of American Special Forces in action on horseback, sculptor Douwe Blumberg was inspired to create a statue to commerotate the actions of the soldiers. A picture of Air Force combat controller Staff Sgt. Bart Decker on an Afghan horse became the model for Blumberg's statue design.
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| Air Force combat controller Staff Sgt. Bart Decker on an Afghan horse which was the model for Douwe Blumberg's sculpture |
Douwe Blumberg initially created an 18 inch statue. In 2003 he casted 120 models for public sale, 120 models for sale to SF personal at cost, and presented one to the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Museum, the regimental museum for the U.S. Army Special Forces at Fort Bragg.
In 2011, a group of Wall Street bankers funded a full size model which was initially located at Two World Trade Centre, then for a period at One World Trade Centre. The statue was moved again to its present location and rededicated on 13th September 2016.
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| American Response Monument Liberty Park |
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| American Response Monument Liberty Park |