The Monuments Men are 70 years old today

Happy 70th to the Monuments Men! It was on this day in 1943 that General Eisenhower sent a letter to all commanders in the field instructing them to spare any monuments from destruction “so far as war allows.” This was a direct outgrowth of the formation in August of 1943 of the Roberts Commission, which was given the task of protecting and salvaging the the artistic and historic monuments of Europe. Eighteen months after this directive, the Monuments Men would find an enormous stash of stole...