Globe adds life to war memorial
At first glance, the new illuminated globe on the World War IIMemorial in Diamond Park looks ordinary.
But a closer inspection of the intricate, hand-painted features reveals this globe isn't like one you'd find on an average desk top.
C. Rick Hardman, a war memorial enthusiast and architect by trade, has made sure through weeks of "tedious" painting that the globe will be noticed.
"I just didn't want people to look at it and take it for granted," Hardman said. "I wanted to give the memorial some life."
In addition to bringing life to the memorial by illuminating its features, the globe's changing shades of light blue also symbolize life.
"The globe has 17 different (shade) patterns a minute," he said, "and by doing that, it is reflective of how many times a person breathes a minute."
Before the plastic globe was put in place Monday and illuminated Tuesday, Hartman spent weeks painting the continents on the inside of it.
After the globe was given to him by the Butler County WWII Memorial Committee, Hartman covered the outside of it with cellophane and outlined all the land masses.
"I had to set out the grid lines," he said, "longitude and longitude, and then after developing them, use them as a grid."
Using a 7-inch globe as a guide, he completed his sketches freehand and then traced them on the inside by sticking his hand inside the globe.
"Then I removed the cellophane and painted in the continents by hand with enamel paint," he said. "It wasn't easy."
The World War II Memorial, paid for by donations, is not the first war memorial that Hardman has been involved with.
In fact, designing memorials has become a time-consuming hobby for him.
Hardman, a former Vietnam War medic, also helped design many other memorials, including one in his hometown of Shinnston, W.Va.
He is working on more additions to the memorial in Diamond Park and to a Korean War memorial in Fairmont, W.Va., both pending more funding.
