By Justin Conti, WPAOG Staff

Since 2004, the American Association of the Friends of Kościuszko at West Point, Inc. has held an annual ceremony to honor the life of BG Tadueusz (Thaddeus) Kościuszko at West Point. However, this year’s ceremony, on April 26, 2025, was a special one. It was the first since the monument’s reconstruction and restoration. 

In attendance for this special ceremony was Bogdan Klich, Chargé d’affaires of Poland in the United States. He brought and laid a wreath on the ground in front of the Kościuszko statue, honoring the former engineer-in-charge of West Point Fortifications who ensured that the defenses would repel any water or land attack by the British in the forbidding terrain. 

“When a cadet found this statue to be deteriorating in 2021, the Superintendent asked if WPAOG could take on the construction and rebuild it,” said Pat Ortland ’82, COO of West Point Association of Graduates. “We were proud to answer that call.”

The original monument was designed by J.H.B. Latrobe (ex-USMA Class of 1822) after he won a cadet-sponsored contest to design the monument, which was completed in 1829. Eighty-four years later, the statue atop the marble column and the two bronze plates were donated by the Polish Laity and Clergy of the United States. 

The Superintendent initiated the restoration process, which began after a concerned Cadet, Nicholas Kramer, wrote to WPAOG expressing concern over the state of the iconic monument. Chris Branson, who manages this type of construction for WPAOG, worked closely with Paul Hudson from the DPW Cultural Resources team to ensure that the job was done with strict adherence to artistic and historical authenticity.

Greg Boyajian, the contractor for the project from American Monument, used 3D imagery to ensure an exact replacement. Once complete, it took 10 months to cut and turn the marble and deliver it to West Point. The statue that sits on top of the spire and two plaques were refinished, but the entire statue, along with the plaza, is completely new, restoring the distinguished tribute to the influential Army engineer to its former glory. 

“The United States owes a debt of gratitude to this Polish engineer for volunteering his services in a time of desperation—a time when the outcome of the American Revolution was very much in doubt,” said Jennifer Voigtschild ’93, USMA Command Historian. “His personal courage to sail across the ocean, find a man named Benjamin Franklin, and ask if he could take an engineering test to join the Continental Army speaks volumes about his character and his unwavering humanity throughout his life.”