Museum of History in Granite

" The act of parachuting, measured in seconds, and with mistakes punishable by death, sets a standard for education. In memory of past heroism, and in the spirit of educating each of us in courage and in discipline, now and in the future, we dedicate the Hall of Fame of Parachuting".This is the entire 1978 dedication speech by Founding Trustee Jacques-André Istel 

These thoughts led him to create the MUSEUM OF HISTORY IN GRANITE, as a World Commemorative Center ®, and design the granite monuments.

His belief that any lasting venture needs a spiritual dimension led to the construction of the 150,000 ton "Hill of Prayer" in order to build the Church on the Hill at Felicity,  a moral anchor.  Life long friend and fellow Trustee, Wolfgang Lieschke, (a relative of Goethe), sketched an early site design and the Church window.Vocatus atque, non vocatus, Deus aderit.

In 1997, outraged by reports of WWII veterans spending two million dollars for a monument never built, the Trustees, with the immense co-operation of Headquarters, United States Marine Corps, built the granite  Marine Corps Korean War Memorial in precisely one year, engraving names of 4617 Marines and 107 Navy Corpsmen who died in the war. This is the first of the historic granite museum monuments conceived by the founder.

From 1999 to 2001, assisted by the Library of Congress, the Service Historique de l'Armèe de l'Air and noted historians, the Museum edited and engraved the  Quest for the Sky (Histoire de l'Aeronautique Francaise).  The monument, dedicated in 2002, received an  Air and Space medal in Europe in 2003. In 2008 the monument was gifted to France and accepted at a formal ceremony by the Consul General from Los Angeles in the presence of Ambassador Daillet.

In 2002, the universal mission, hitherto in the mind of the founder, was published and adopted