IT’s the famous eagle on the hill in Canberra that most people think was donated by the Yanks.

But in fact it was ordinary Australians who coughed up 63,000 pounds in just six weeks to build the Australian-American Memorial in the early 1950s.

A Committee, with members including Richard Casey (who was later to become Governor-general) and Sir Keith Murdoch, helped launch a competition to find the perfect monument to recognise the sacrifice of American service personnel in World War II.

Sixty years after it was finished, the 73 metre tall memorial, which towers over the Defence headquarters in the nation’s capital, has undergone a $1.2 million makeover.

It’s hoped the “nice facelift” from the National Capital Authority will help dispel the myth about how ‘The Eagle’ came to be.

Defence Department Secretary Dennis Richardson, who “affectionately” calls the structure ‘Bugs Bunny’, said not one of a group of graduates he spoke to last year knew the real story behind it.

“You arrive in this institution, this organisation, you’ve got this big foreign symbol in the middle of the organisation and you don’t have the curiosity to wander across and find out what it’s about,” he said while unveiling a new plaque yesterday.

All thought it had been a gift from America, he said.

“Yet nothing could be further from the truth. This is our memorial to the men and women of the United States who came here during the second world war,” he said.

“It’s fascinating how things get lost in time.”

The memorial has special significance for US Ambassador to Australia John Berry, whose uncle died in the Pacific.

“My uncle, my namesake, never returned home again. So this memorial holds a very personal meaning to me.”

He said it was “looking pretty good for 60 years”.

“It’s really had a nice facelift,” he joked.

At a time when Australia is again teaming up with the US in Iraq, Ambassador Berry praised the enduring relationship between the two countries.

“In times of war and of peace we have turned to each other,” he said.

“We have worked and we have fought side by side.

“Our alliance is the cornerstone of peace and security in the Pacific and it has been so for 70 years.”

Ambassador Berry said the two nations are not allies because of geography, convenience or out of obligation.

“We are allies because we share the common foundational values of liberty, justice, democracy and a respect for human freedom and dignity.

“We are allies because we do not walk away from our friends.”

In the “darkest days” the US and Australia have always “stood together”, he said.

“And we always will.”