World War II Memorial

Barbara's niece told us that we needed to see the memorials at night. So we took the Grayline night tour and the driver/tour guide had lived in DC for 30 years and had been doing the tour for over 20 years. He knew the history of DC extremely well and brought it all to life for all of us on the bus. His story about the World War II Memorial created an epifemy for what I had seen during the day to make sense. The Memorial has all of the States and Countries that were our Allies. The Memorial is set into the two war theaters that we fought in. The Stars in the waterfall represent the falled during the war. And finally the enscriptions are for all of the survivors of the war. And that is what makes this Memorial so very different. It recognizes all of those who were not in the military that suffered and worked to help defeat the enemy. The Memorial has an entire section devoted to the women who worked in the factories, built the airplanes, sewed the uniforms, and traveled with the USO. The Memorial is for a country that pulled together to fight a common enemy. This is the last time that this amount of Patriotism and loyalty has been shown by our Nation. In the battles that have followed World War II, our Nation has been divided. Tears came to my eyes as I realized how I thought that when I went into the Army that my belief, grounded in the World War II era, would be crushed by the theocrats that are dividing our Nation. This Memorial cleared my head and now I understand a lot of the mixed feelings that have been tormenting me for the past 30 years. I was raised in a small town that taught morals and patriotism. The drug and hippy cultures of the larger cities changed our country and removed morals and patriotism from the curriculum. I believe that as a Nation, we will stumble and could fail if we do not return to the beliefs of our past heritage.
Please click on the photo of the Memorial to view the slide show and then back page to return to my blog.