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Jefferson Barracks Park will dedicate new plaza and monument on Friday

The new Old Guard Monument and Plaza in Jefferson Barracks Park has a commanding view of the Mississippi River.
Mary Delach Leonard | St. Louis Public Radio
The new Old Guard Monument and Plaza in Jefferson Barracks Park has a commanding view of the Mississippi River.

The St. Louis County Parks Department will dedicate a sculpture and plaza at the Powder Magazine Museumat Jefferson Barracks Park on Friday.

The centerpiece of the plaza is a bronze monument by St. Louisan Barbara “B.J.” Mungenast that pays tribute to the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, known as The Old Guard. The sculpture is a duplicate of a monument that Mungenast has created for Fort Myer, Virginia, where the regiment is based.

The sculpture portrays the ceremonial and combat roles of the regiment that was established in 1784 and is the Army’s oldest active-duty infantry unit. Soldiers of The Old Guard serve as the Army’s official honor guard and provide the 24-hour vigil at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

Mungenast said she was asked to create the tribute for Fort Myer after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 by now-retired Col. James Laufenberg, who was regiment commander at the time. That projectis still in progress. The sculpture at Jefferson Barracks was cast from the same mold.

The nonprofit Old Guard Missouri Foundation was established to fund and build the plaza at Jefferson Barracks to replace an old plaza behind the museum. The site has a commanding view of the Mississippi River.

 

Barbara Mungenast inspects her sculpture after it was set in place on Oct. 20 at the Powder Magazine Museum at Jefferson Barracks Park.
Credit Mary Delach Leonard | St. Louis Public Radio
Barbara Mungenast inspects her sculpture after it was set in place on Oct. 20 at the Powder Magazine Museum at Jefferson Barracks Park.

Mungenast was on site when the monument was set in place on Oct. 20. She said she designed the statue to honor soldiers, not generals. Her late husband, DaveMungenastwho founded theMungenastautomotive dealerships in St. Louis, served in the Army Special Forces as a Green Beret.“I’m a native St. Louisan, and my late husband, as well. So, I was honored to be asked to place one of my sculptures here,’’ Mungenast said. “This is just wonderful to be part of this St. Louis scene here. It means a lot.”  

The museum was closed briefly when work began on the plaza, but it is open once again to the public, according to Angie Riehn, public information coordinator for the county parks department. The museum’s exhibits tell the story of the Jefferson Barracks Historic Site, which served as an Army post from 1826 to 1946. The museum's hours are noon to 4 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays.

Friday’s 5 p.m. dedication will include remarks from Laufenberg, county officials and music by the Lewis and Clark Fife and Drum Corps.

Follow Mary Delach Leonard on Twitter: @marydleonard

Copyright 2021 St. Louis Public Radio. To see more, visit St. Louis Public Radio.

Mary Delach Leonard is a veteran journalist who joined the St. Louis Beacon staff in April 2008 after a 17-year career at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, where she was a reporter and an editor in the features section. Her work has been cited for awards by the Missouri Associated Press Managing Editors, the Missouri Press Association and the Illinois Press Association. In 2010, the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis honored her with a Spirit of Justice Award in recognition of her work on the housing crisis. Leonard began her newspaper career at the Belleville News-Democrat after earning a degree in mass communications from Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, where she now serves as an adjunct faculty member. She is partial to pomeranians and Cardinals.