I like to visit war memorials for the same reason I like cemeteries. When I think of war memorials, I don’t think of marble statues, gushing waterfalls, or fountains shooting into the sky. I think of them more like pages of a history book. They are ways our nation interprets the people and past events that have changed us. Like a photograph but a much more lasting one, we carve out war memorials from answers to questions such as: What place does this war have in our history? What kind of welcome did we give our veterans when they finally came home? How many servicemen and women died? How have we reinterpreted the war with the passage of time?
Fights usually break out when various groups begin to discuss what to include in a memorial. I liken this to when someone dies in the family. After the mourners openly grieve, and everyone has gone home from the funeral home or memorial service, quarrels often start with family members arguing over who gets what with everyone insisting they know what he or she would want.
So on a recent trip to Washington D.C., I had two epiphanies while in the nation’s capital for only a few days. First, I learned that there wasn’t ONE Smithsonian Museum but twelve different museums all bearing the “The Smithsonian.‿ name. Then I realized (after many years away from my last visit to the city) that most of the city’s museums are FREE including our wonderful veterans memorials.
For some time, I had been wanting to see the three of the newest memorials in Washington, the Korean War Memorial, (1995) the FDR Memorial (1997) and the World War II Memorial (2004). I had heard of a tour that let you visit many memorials all in one day through a company called The Tourmobile.
So in the late afternoon of the same day, I boarded a Tourmobile, a white and blue-painted tram at Union Square for a grand tour of the memorials. For $20, I was told I would visit six memorials in three hours in their seasonal nighttime tour called the “Twilight Tour.‿ Though I had already visited three of the six memorials many years ago, ( the Jefferson Memorial, The Lincoln Memorial, The Viet Nam Memorial,) I was promised the three newest ones wouldn’t disappoint and it turned out to be true.
The Korean War Veterans Memorial (opened in 1995) is an edgy and powerful memorial. It shows the horror of the Korean War in the life-size steel sculptures of the 19 soldiers creeping across a field. You sense that any minute they’ll come under enemy attack. Created by World War II veteran Frank Gaylord, this memorial looks like it’s straight out of bloody battle scene. You feel the freezing cold air from the bulky ponchos the soldiers wear. You see the emotional toll on their weary faces. If you follow them up the hill, you can almost hear someone calling out ‘Who’s hit? Who’s hit?’ while others holler ‘medic medic medic.’
This Korean Memorial has two unusual aspects that makes it stand out from others. The sculptures of the soldiers are of various ethnic backgrounds. This accurately reflects not only the white soldiers who served in Korea but the thousands of African American soldiers as well. After Truman ordered racial integration for the military in 1948, many African-Americans fought side by side white soldiers for the first time in this war instead of having segregated units.
Another unusual feature is the black granite wall on one side of the field. More than 2,500 faces of military support personnel are etched in stone. The war-nurses, mechanics, and crew chiefs are given credit for their service and not only the soldiers in the battlefield. “Freedom is not Free.‿ is the message inscribed on the wall.
With this memorial, the Korean War should shed its reputation as “the forgotten war.‿ The U.S. had 1.5 million Korean War vets, and there were nearly the same number of American soldiers who lost their lives in the Korean War, 54,000, as Viet Nam had with 58,000 dead but in three short years from 1950-1953.
Yet we don’t have the same cultural markers for the Korean War as we do for other wars. For the Viet Nam War, there is no scarcity of heroes in the movies “Full Metal Jacket,“ “ Platoon,‿ and “Apocalypse Now.‿ World War II has countless movies showing heroes and battles from‿ Sands of Iwo Jima,‿ “Patton,‿ to the more recent “Pearl Harbor.‿ Yet what famous movies with war heroes does the Korean War have? Only the “The Manchurian Candidate‿ on the brainwashing and POWs in Korea and “M.A.S.H.,‿ an old TV comedy series about army doctors.
The Korean War officially ended in 1953 at the 38th parallel, and in some ways, you might say that the war was really never “won.‿ North Korea remains a country that is both communist and closed to the outside world except for China. South Korea is still a country which has one of the longest military drafts in the world with young men serving more than two years. The U. S. continues to permanently station 30,000 American troops in South Korea to help defend its border. These are sobering reminders that the Korean War ended in a tie. For the last 52 years, the heavily militarized border separating the two Koreas has been called “the demilitarized zone‿ or the DMZ, a name which carries a strange irony in our time.
The FDR Memorial – (opened in 1997)
This is a memorial to our 32nd president who was so eloquent that he inspired an entire nation with his words, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.‿ This is the “warmest‿ memorial I’ve visited and certainly the most biographical. Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s life story unfolds in four outdoor rooms that run along the Tidal Basin symbolizing the four-terms of his presidency and spanning twelve critical years (1933-1945). Each room curves around waterfalls and stones and the rooms stand independently with the thundering noise of the waterfalls in the background.
At the entrance of the memorial, a bronze sculpture shows FDR in a wheelchair. With the scrutiny of the media of today, it’s hard to believe that few people knew that because of a bout with polio the president was unable to walk while he was alive. Roosevelt hid his disability under a cape when he was in public or when he was careful about being photographed sitting down. This was also the president who was famous for his radio fireside chats in the days largely before television.
This memorial stirred a heated debate on whether to show or hide Roosevelt’s disability.
Certainly if the president were alive today, he would be happy knowing disabilities are out of the closet. Many veterans come back from wars wounded and with disabilities where they can no longer walk and need a wheelchair. Today we have wheelchair-equipped lifts on buses and public buildings with ramps for wheelchair access. Even the world’s only university for the deaf and hard of hearing, Gallaudet University, is a few miles away from FDR’s Memorial.
The FDR Memorial is one of its kind because it’s the only U.S. memorial that honors a First Lady. A bronze statue of Eleanor Roosevelt stands in front of the United Nations seal as Eleanor was the first U.S. delegate to the UN. Eleanor’s petite sculpture seems overshadowed by her husband’s sprawling memorial of statues and waterfalls, but then I recall one of my favorite quotes by her, “Remember no one can make you feel inferior without your consent.‿
Designed by Lawrence Halprin, this memorial shows how humane and compassionate the wartime president was. The memorial contains a sculpture of the president sitting next to his constant companion, his Scottish terrier Fala. Another outdoor gallery room captures the hunger and despair of the 1930s Depression. Sculptures of men with hungry looks on their faces line up to wait for a ration of bread. Not far away, another man anxiously listens to a radio for the latest news report.
World War II Memorial – (opened in 2004)
The World War II Memorial is a larger-than-life memorial that shows the magnitude and importance of World War II to our nation’s history. Since this memorial is built between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, you have an unusual vantage point when you are there. You can enjoy unhindered views of two of the most famous memorials on either side of you or click away to bring home unusual panoramic photographs.
World War II is memorialized by a giant open plaza surrounded by 28 semicircular pillars on each side. A total of 56 pillars represent each of the 50 states and the six U.S. territories.
On each side of the walkway of the 17th street entrance, scenes taken from the war years are illustrated in bas-relief sculptures. The architect and sculptor, Raymond Kaskey, depicts 12 scenes from the Pacific front and 12 scenes from the Atlantic front to symbolize a war fought across two oceans.
Some of the scenes from the Pacific show Pearl Harbor, Enlistment, Shipbuilding, Amphibious Landing, and V-Day. Scenes from the Atlantic depict the bond drive, women in the military, the Normandy Beach Landing, and the Battle of the Bulge.
The sheer size of this Memorial is overwhelming but it also reminds us of the massive mobilization and enormous sacrifice in this war: 16 million who served in the war and more than 400,000 soldiers who lost their lives. Families who had a son or daughter in the service during the war would hang a blue-starred flag on their windows or doors. The blue star was replaced with a gold star when the family lost their son or daughter in the service. Each of these lives are remembered in the memorial’s Freedom Wall with 4,000 gold stars, a star for every 100 soldiers who died in World War II.
Finally, the Rainbow pool centers the memorial with fountains on each side. The water jetting from the fountains gives the memorial a majestic feel. It makes you feel that you have just experienced a sweeping chapter of a history the old-fashioned way with no interactive buttons to push. But then you realize that one visit to this memorial is not enough. To properly take it all in, two or three visits would be much better.
Today, we stop to remember the 2,000 American soldiers who have died in Iraq. We also carry the nearly 3,000 victims of September 11th in our hearts until a memorial will be built for them in lower Manhattan. The Twin Towers Memorial is to be in a park-like setting with two square building imprints surrounded by trees in a space where the towers once stood. The memorial will be called “Reflecting Absence,‿ a name especially fitting for Veteran’s Day when we do exactly that. We reflect on all those veterans who didn’t make it home.
Diane Asitimbay is an intercultural trainer and the author of the recently-released book, What’s Up America? A Foreigner’s Guide to Understanding Americans. She can be reached by e-mail at dasitimbay@yahoo.com or her book can be purchased at www.culturelinkpress.com
Did you know . . .
That Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day? This national holiday marked the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918 when the World War I ended. It wasn’t until President Eisenhower signed a bill in 1954 renaming Armistice Day to Veterans Day so it would be a day to pay tribute to veterans of all of our wars.
VISITING THE MEMORIALS IN WASHINGTON D.C.: IF YOU GO
The Korean War Veterans Memorial, the FDR Memorial and the World War II Memorial are administered by the National Park Service. Contact the Superintendent, National Capital Parks-Central, 900 Ohio Drive SW, Washington D.C. 20024-2000, www.nps.gov/nacc. You can look up names of veterans at the WWII Registry accessed by a computer kiosk at the memorial but this information is also available online at www.iimemorial.com.
Please visit the National Park Service Web site at www.nps.gov/nwwm or call the Park Service at (202) 619-7222.
The Tourmobile Company
Authorized by the National Park Service , the Tourmobile company offers tours all year round but the night tour is seasonal, mainly limited to summer and early fall. Riders are allowed to reboard its buses free all day long at any of the 25 stops, and Tourmobile offers tours of George Washington’s Mount Vernon and the home of Fredrick Douglass in Anacostia as well.
Tourmobile Ticket Booth Locations
(Board tram at the red, white and blue sign
Arlington National Cemetery
8:30am-4:30pm April through Nov 11
9:30am-4:30pm Nov 12 thru March
Nearest METRO Stop: Arlington Cemetery
Washington Monument Kiosk
1401 Jefferson Drive, NW
Nearest METRO Stop: Smithsonian
Seasonal. Call for information.
Union Station
49 Massachusetts Avenue, SE (Main Hall)
9:00am – 1:00pm (American Heritage Tour tickets)
9:00am – 7:00pm (Twilight Tour tickets when operating)
Nearest METRO Stop: Union Station
Disabled Access.
Mid-Jun-Labor Day: Daily 9a-6:30p, Sep-mid Jun: Daily 9:30a-4:30pm
Seasonal Tours
3 Hour Twilight Tour: See Washington By Night
Let Tourmobile take you on a memorable twilight Ride Through History™ amidst Washington’s illuminated points of interest. Enjoy timed visits at the Jefferson, Franklin Roosevelt, Lincoln, Korean, Vietnam Veterans and WW II Memorials.
For Washington D.C. information: Write to the Washington D.C. Convention and Visitors Association, 1212 New York Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20005, 202/789-7000, www.washington.org. While in town, the centrally located Visitor Center is at 1455 Pennsylvania Avenue, 202/789-7038.
Very interesting blog. I’m glad I found this site.%d%a
Great Read.
Nice Article.
I am very happy that I found this site.