World War II Memorial

The National World War II Memorial is big, impressive and interesting, though for me the least moving of the three war memorials I saw in Washington.

This is America, of course, so the emphasis is on America (hardly surprising).  Yet the Vietnam Memorial is similarly focussed on the US but it immediately struck me with a whole swag of emotions.  Perhaps the difference is that, even though the WWII Memorial is dedicated to those who served in the war, those who fought are not really acknowledged in the architecture.  There was an installation at the back which Mrs Walles and I speculated was intended to convey the scale of losses - but there was nothing to confirm that was what it meant.

 

The memorial is big and round with a nice fountain in the centre.  Around the outer edges there are markers for each state and territory.  On either side there are tall monuments marked "Pacific" and "Atlantic".

There are some nice brasses.  Some had images, like these.

 

Others had little quotes, from President Truman and other figures of the time.

I suppose that for America the Second World War was a kind of coming of age.  It emerged the other side a global superpower, changed in many ways from before the war.  Perhaps this would explain the attitude the memorial seems to convey - not so much a sombre memorial of tragic losses, but more a celebration of a struggle won.  And it would also explain why this memorial has such a prime place on the Washington map, right between the Washington and Lincoln monuments, suggesting it commemorates an event on par with the Revolution and Civil War, two other key turning points in US history.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that it isn't your run-of-the-mill war memorial.  Which isn't a bad thing.  It's still a good place to visit and reflect on the events of the war, but as an outsider I was far more moved by the Vietnam and Korean war memorials, of which there will be more in future posts.

And speaking of the Washington map, here's one with the position of the memorial marked.