World War two memorial. This one is actually pretty new, opened in 2004 so was not here for our first trip to DC and some how we missed it last time. It has a pillar for each state and a big one for each of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
Korean War Memorial.
I love this memorial, I think it is the familiarity with the ponchos! We used them as ground sheets. Actually it is the formation of these soldiers and their faces, they are communicating with each other and with us.
Ducks!
Viet Nam Memorial
The boys and these soldiers are positioned looking at the Vietnam Memorial.
I learned this about the Viet Nam Memorial:
The memorial was designed by a 21 year old Yale sturdent who entered a competition, her entry arrived on the last day of the competition. She recieved a Bplus for it at Yale. The rules of the competition were:
1. The memorial must fit into the park like atmosphere of the area.
2. It must be a place of reflection.
3. It must include all of the names of the men and women who died in Viet Nam.
Her design is a 'cut' into the ground, representing the wound to America, you walk into it and then out again. It is made of polished black Granit representing the divide between the dead and the living, the polished surface is inscribed with names, as you read the names you see your own reflection. The names start in the middle with the first person killed in 1958, the names are in the order that people died, so the fallen are remembered together, the last person died on May 15 1975 - we were there on the 35th aniversay if his death.
Many memorials and reunions take place here, over 50,000 names and their buddies come back to remember them, the day we were there 140 men from one unit were there to remember their 85 mates who dies in one battle - they are all on one pannel, all together, forever.
Lest we forget.
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