Monuments Men and Women Foundation

Monuments Men and Women Foundation Many had expertise as museum directors, curators, art historians, artists, architects, librarians and educators.

The MMWF is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to honoring the Monuments Men and Women, advancing their legacy through restitution, education, preservation, and remembrance, and promoting the protection of shared cultural heritage worldwide. The Monuments Men and Women were a group of approximately 345 men and women from 14 nations, most of whom volunteered for service in the newly created Monuments,

Fine Arts, and Archives (MFAA) Section during World War II. Only their job description was simple: to protect cultural treasures so far as war allowed. We invite you to join us on Facebook and to engage in thoughtful discussion and debate. However, we reserve the right to delete content including but not limited to, hate speech, profanity, Spam and vulgar language.

09/03/2026

Over the past several months, we’ve highlighted individual cards from the Foundation’s WWII Most Wanted Art™ deck of playing cards. Each one tells a unique story of loss amid the N**i looting of Europe’s cultural heritage.

Every deck purchased brings visibility to these still-missing masterpieces while supporting the Foundation’s work to carry forward the mission of recovery and restitution begun by the Monuments Men and Women of World War II.

Purchase your deck today through our online store and help continue the mission!

This is one of Vincent van Gogh’s versions of “The Bridge of Langlois at Arles,” painted in 1888. Over the course of six...
08/31/2026

This is one of Vincent van Gogh’s versions of “The Bridge of Langlois at Arles,” painted in 1888. Over the course of six weeks, Van Gogh depicted the bridge six times in oils, watercolor, and drawings, combining Dutch landscape traditions with his growing interest in Japanese art.

“Bridge of Langlois” was seized from the Rothschild collection in Paris by the N**i looting organization the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) and entered the collection of Hermann Göring in December 1941. In 1945, Allied soldiers recovered it from his collection in Berchtesgaden, Germany.

From there it was evacuated first to Unterstein before arriving at the Munich Central Collecting Point in late July. On March 27, 1946, “Bridge of Langlois" was repatriated to France. Today, it remains in a private collection.
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Image 1 | "The Bridge of Langlois at Arles” (1888) by Vincent Van Gogh. Public Domain via Wikipedia.

Image 2 | Director of the Munich Central Collecting Point, Lt. Craig Hugh Smyth, poses with works at the collecting point, including Van Gogh’s “Bridge at Langlois.” Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art Archives.

Image 3 | The painting is propped on a sink at Unterstein. Thérèse Bonney, © The Regents of the University of California, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley. CC BY 4.0

The protection of cultural heritage by the Allied armies began with the private efforts of Maj. John Bryan Ward-Perkins,...
08/28/2026

The protection of cultural heritage by the Allied armies began with the private efforts of Maj. John Bryan Ward-Perkins, an archaeologist attached to the British Eighth Army in Tripolitania and future Monuments Man in Italy. Concerned that Italian efforts to protect Roman ruins in North Africa had collapsed and that British troops were damaging the ancient sites, he worked with fellow British archaeologist Brigadier Mortimer Wheeler—another future Monuments Man—to have Italian custodians recognized and paid, and placed the important sites off limits to troops.

When the invasion of North Africa was planned, a Civil Affairs plan was developed but ultimately not implemented because the French administration retained control. Despite that, the invasion and subsequent military neglect placed ancient ruins at risk. French officials with the Service des Monuments Historiques in Morocco and Algeria brought these concerns to General Eisenhower, who ordered additional protective notices to be posted. These measures helped ensure that the Roman ruins suffered only minor damage during the Allied occupation.

These experiences ultimately helped establish the basis for later Allied efforts to protect monuments and cultural property during military operations in the Mediterranean and European war theaters.
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Image 1 | British soldiers of the Eighth Army explore the ruins of Leptis Magna. Imperial War Museums (E 21834) (Imperial War Museums)

Image 2 | John Bryan Ward-Perkins while serving in Italy as a Monuments Man. A. Sheldon Pennoyer Collection, Department of Art and Archaeology, Princeton University (Art & Archaeology Princeton U)

Image 3 | Sir Mortimer Wheeler. © National Portrait Gallery, London (National Portrait Gallery)

Meet the Heroes: Corporal Clyde J. Davis (US Army) 🇺🇸Clyde Junior Davis was born on April 13, 1924, in Okmulgee, a small...
08/26/2026

Meet the Heroes: Corporal Clyde J. Davis (US Army) 🇺🇸

Clyde Junior Davis was born on April 13, 1924, in Okmulgee, a small town in Oklahoma. He was inducted into the US Army shortly after his high school graduation but hoped to one day study architecture.

Proving to be a smart and determined soldier, Davis completed the Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) before becoming an infantry replacement for the Battle of the Bulge with the 66th Infantry Division. He was later reassigned to an antitank company of the 232nd Infantry Regiment, 42nd Infantry Division and applied for temporary assignment with the MFAA alongside Private First Class Richard M. Barancik. In November 1945, Corporal Davis and Private First Class Barancik were assigned to temporary duty in detachment E1B with the Education, Religion, Fine Arts, and Monuments Office of the US Military Government, Land Salzburg, Austria, where they assisted in the movement of displaced cultural objects to the central repository under the Property Control Branch. Davis also served as the able assistant to Monuments Man Captain Charles R. Sattgast. He remained involved in the recovery of looted works of art and other cultural objects until January 1946, when he enrolled in a military school in Switzerland.

Following his return to Oklahoma, Davis completed a degree in English from the University of Oklahoma and began a long and successful career in radio and television broadcasting. As an anchorman in radio and television in Oklahoma City and Denver, Colorado, he interviewed many notable political and entertainment figures. Upon his retirement, he relocated to Taos, New Mexico, with his wife. There, he worked in a gallery and acted in several commercials for local businesses. In his spare time, he collected books, historical newspaper clippings, and a large assortment of southwestern art. In the early 1990s, he and his wife moved to Lafayette, Louisiana, where he lived until his death.

Clyde Davis died in Lafayette, Louisiana, on March 18, 2014, and is buried in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

08/24/2026

“Everything that I was seeing and hearing ended up in the file of my memory and notes, an important repository of information in my efforts to find out as much as possible about the ERR’s plans and operations. I had to be vigilant and retain every bit of it in my mind, because one never knows in the moment the detail that will matter later.” - Rose Valland, “The Art Front”

Get your copy of Valland’s memoir on our website.
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Image | Archives du ministère des Affaires étrangères – La Courneuve, France

Hans Memling's "Portrait of a Young Man," painted in the late fifteenth century, belongs to the Uffizi Galleries in Flor...
08/22/2026

Hans Memling's "Portrait of a Young Man," painted in the late fifteenth century, belongs to the Uffizi Galleries in Florence, Italy. Although Memling's reputation declined after his death, by the twentieth century he was recognized as one of the greatest Flemish Primitives.

During World War II, the Uffizi's collections were evacuated to the Castle of Poppi for safekeeping. In August 1944, German troops repeatedly searched the castle before removing crates of artworks under the cover of darkness. They later claimed the paintings were being protected from the advancing Allies but also destroyed parts of the town as they withdrew.

When Monuments Man 2nd Lt. Frederick Hartt inspected the castle in September 1944, he found that 198 paintings had been taken, including works by Rembrandt, Raphael, Rubens, and Memling. While many masterpieces were eventually recovered, "Portrait of a Young Man" has never been seen since its theft in 1944.

Image | Courtesy of the Italian Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage
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JOIN THE HUNT
Do you know anything pertaining to the whereabouts of this work of art?

Hans Memling (?–1494) | Portrait of a Young Man (c.1480–1490) | oil on panel, 13.78 x 9.45 in. (35 x 24 cm) | Property of the Uffizi Galleries, Florence, Italy

Cash Reward up to $20,000*

Write to us | [email protected]

*Terms & Conditions apply, see www.monumentsmenandwomenfnd.org/wwii-most-wanted

Meet the Heroes: Sergeant Leslie G. Davie (British Army) 🇬🇧Leslie George Davie was a British artist and potter. Born in ...
08/21/2026

Meet the Heroes: Sergeant Leslie G. Davie (British Army) 🇬🇧

Leslie George Davie was a British artist and potter. Born in London on September 26, 1909, as the son of a successful London banker, his early interest in art was contrary to the conservative wishes of his family.

Thus determined to pursue a professional career as a painter, a largely self-taught Davie embarked for France in the late 1930s. Upon the outbreak of war between Germany and England, Davie was living at a vineyard in the Loire Valley. He returned to England as soon as possible and subsequently enlisted in the British Army.

Davie applied to the MFAA after an original assignment in the Middle East with the Royal Army Service Corps. Initially assigned to Cairo, Egypt, he undertook studies in Greek in preparation for MFAA work on the Greek islands. Working as foreman of works for the Fine Arts and Antiquities Department of the MFAA Branch at Headquarters, Land Forces Greece, Davie was based in Athens and assisted with the inspection of ancient and Byzantine monuments alongside his commanding officer, Thomas J. “T. J.” Dunbabin. He assisted and consulted on the monasteries of Mount Athos, many of which had sustained serious damage during the war, as well as stolen items.

Davie remained involved with the MFAA in Greece until at least September 1945. Upon his return to England, he restarted his formal studies in art at Goldsmiths, at the recommendation of Lt. Col. Dunbabin, proving himself to be first a gifted student, and later a popular pottery teacher. In 1949, he relocated to Rye, Sussex, a historic town with a dynamic artist community. There, he helped found the Rye Society of Artists and taught art classes at Rye Secondary Modern School.
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Image | Courtesy of the Davie Family

08/20/2026

“Your ‘brain child’ has finally taken shape... you seem to me the real father of the whole show.”

83 years ago today, an idea became a mission.

On August 20, 1943, the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas was officially established. Better known as the Roberts Commission, it would help lay the groundwork for what would become the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program.

The Roberts Commission worked to identify cultural treasures at risk, advise the U.S. military on their protection, and identify and recommend qualified personnel to serve in the field.

But the story did not begin with men in uniform entering bombed cities in Europe.

It began years earlier, with people who could see what was coming.

Among them was George Leslie Stout.

A pioneer in modern art conservation, Stout had already witnessed the devastating effects of war on cultural heritage during World War I. When World War II began, his professional contacts in Europe gave him an early look at what was happening again: in the midst of the most destructive war in history, museums were evacuating collections, institutions were hiding treasures, and historic monuments were increasingly vulnerable.

What civilization had created over centuries needed protection. Stout understood that the United States needed to prepare too.

He helped establish the American Defense Harvard Group, bringing together scholars and experts who could contribute their knowledge to the war effort. That work was instrumental in the creation of the Roberts Commission, and Stout is often credited as a driving force behind it.

Just weeks after the Commission was established, Paul J. Sachs, the Harvard art historian and museum leader who would himself play a critical role in its work, wrote Stout a letter that offers a remarkable glimpse into how his contribution was viewed at the time.

We know the stories of the Monuments Men who went into the field, often at great personal risk, to protect monuments, locate missing works of art, and recover what the N**is had stolen.

But before there could be a mission, there was an idea.

83 years later, the legacy of that idea can still be seen in the museums, churches, and historic places that survived the war.

The origins of the Roberts Commission and the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program traces back to the work of acad...
08/17/2026

The origins of the Roberts Commission and the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program traces back to the work of academic groups in the early years of World War II, prior to the formation of the presidential advisory commission.

The American Defense—Harvard Group and an ACLS (American Council of Learned Societies) committee dedicated their skills and resources to identifying cultural monuments and objects endangered by the ongoing war in Europe. When it became evident that Allied armies were going to invade mainland Europe in 1942, these groups of scholars proposed the creation of a governmental commission that could liaise with military forces in the theater to protect and preserve our shared cultural heritage.

On December 8, 1942, Supreme Court Chief Justice Harlan Stone wrote President Franklin D. Roosevelt for his support. The Roberts Commission—officially known as the American Commission for the Protection and Salvage of Artistic and Historic Monuments in War Areas—was authorized by President Roosevelt in June 1943 and established on August 20, 1943. It was headquartered at the newly dedicated National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, and named after its chairman, Supreme Court Justice Owen Roberts.

The Commission worked with the War Department, serving in an advisory capacity on the appointment of MFAA personnel and transmittal of information between the civilian academic groups in the United States and the theater personnel. Its work continued until June 30, 1946, when the State Department took over its remaining functions.
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Image 1 | The National Gallery of Art, where the Roberts Commission was headquartered, 1941. US National Archives (64-NA-552)

Image 2 | Owen Roberts, US Supreme Court justice and namesake of the Roberts Commission, 1936. US Library of Congress (LC-USZ62-64397)

In 2023, Patricia Walsh became the first member of her family to visit the grave of her uncle, Pvt. Alfred Alexander Wan...
08/15/2026

In 2023, Patricia Walsh became the first member of her family to visit the grave of her uncle, Pvt. Alfred Alexander Wang, at the Netherlands American Cemetery. The experience led her to research and write the stories of other fallen servicemembers and, two years later, to begin assisting the Forever Promise Project

As one of our “Helping Hands,” Patricia researches potential relatives and shares promising information with our team, helping us carry forward the detailed work required to locate families and establish connections with Dutch adopters.

During her return to Margraten in May 2026, Patricia saw the results of some of those efforts firsthand. Read her story of remembrance, friendship, and service across generations and across the Atlantic.

We are grateful for Patricia’s help—and always welcome others who would like to contribute to this important work.

Read the full story: https://www.foreverpromise.org/post/patricia-walsh-helping-hands

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