Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Day 4 – Visiting family and touring DC (WWII Monument and Memorial)

My brother-in-law is now working at the Pentagon; he and his family have just moved to the Alexandria VA area. So, we thought that it would a crime not to visit them while we were in the area. And so, plans were made.

We arrived at their home (they’re renting a wonderfully nice house) and all took the Metro train into Washington DC.

“What do you guys want to see?” 
I definitely wanted to see the World War II Memorial. And that’s exactly what we did. Here’s the entrance to the memorial – it is a gradual decline to the main part of the memorial which is a central fountain that has two pillared areas: one for the Atlantic/European theater and the other for the Pacific theater.
Along the wall as you enter the memorial area, there are bronze plaques depicting scenes of both military and civilian efforts during the war – so there is a depiction of the Battle of Bastogne and a depiction of workers assembling airplanes.

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One of the aspects of the memorial was that it made clear that the civilian effort at home was just as important as the effort and sacrifice of the soldiers who fought on the front lines. It was a national effort – something which my Dad was always sure to make clear when he told his stories of the war. It was nice to see a monument pay tribute to all who contributed.

My father served as a Merchant Mariner during the war, so this was something I felt important to see (since it had been opened well after we left the area some 15 years ago). At the entrance the base of the flagpoles have the insignia of the services as they were during the war. Here’s the one for the Merchant Marines.

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As you come to the center of the memorial, where there is a fountain, you can see the Washington Monument via one side – and the Lincoln Monument via the other.

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Of particular interest to me was the memorial for the Atlantic theater – which is the one my father served and fought … particularly during the Battle of the Atlantic.

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The is one side of the memorial. The Pacific theater memorial is at the opposite end.

The fountain here lists the major battle areas in chronological order.

The pillars on either side have the names of the states in the union at the time of the war … the wreaths alternate between different types of grains – representing both the agricultural and manufacturing power that was brought to bear during this time.

There is a large wreath with eagles inside the memorial. This is the symbol of victory.

 

Certainly the most moving section is the wall of gold stars. There are over 4,000 gold stars on this wall. Each star represents 100 service personnel killed or missing. That’s a total of over 400,000!

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My son remained quite solemn and silent when we came to this part of the memorial. Afterward he said two things: “This is very humbling.” and “Thank you for taking us to see this.”

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View the complete set of photos via Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/elrancholoco/sets/72157635143670169/

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