"God. Country. Notre Dame"

“God. Country. Notre Dame.”

This motto above the doors of the east entrance of the Basilica of the Sacred Heart is known to all of the loyal sons and daughters of Notre Dame.

The entrance is actually a war memorial, created to honor Notre Dame men in the armed services who gave their lives during World War I. in 1920, the Notre Dame Service Club launched an effort to raise funds for a memorial in the pages of the May 1, 1920, issue of The Notre Dame Scholastic, noting “The students and alumni who left their callings in 1917 to take up arms that liberty might be preserved, gave up much more than we are called upon to give.” The very next sentence may have helped to inspire the motto on the memorial: “The Notre Dame spirit – the spirit of loyalty to God, country, and school – was in the hearts of these men.”

The Service Club was “endeavoring to raise two thousand dollars” for a suitable memorial. “Let us, who have been spared through the supreme sacrifice of our brave brothers, get together and help effectively to the erection of this monument, which will be a suitable memorial to the deeds and valor of the Notre Dame men who laid down their lives.”