I wandered around the Mall a bit after going to the art museum. It was a beautiful fall day and there were alot of people out enjoying the day either before or after their feasts.

Lets talk memorials for a second. The WWII memorial is HUGE. Don’t get me wrong WWII was huge itself, but man that thing is big. And why is it stuck right in the middle of mall? All of the other memorials are along the side to keep the mall area open, but not this. Why is that? And what was there before they built this? I’m sure something that had a purpose of some sort. I remember reading about DC when I was in school and how everything was laid out a certain way and for certain reason – don’t ask my what they are now – no clue. But sticking a monster memorial in the middle of the mall seems a bit off if you ask me. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for a WWII memorial, but why there?

And where is the WWI Memorial? Guess what, there isn’t one. Well not a National WWI memorial. There is a small one that was dedicated in 1931 for the people in Washington, DC who lost their lives during WWI. I guess there aren’t alot of people out there to contribute to a WWI memorial any more.

I like the Korean War Memorial. I can visualize those guys tramping through Korea. You really see a full regiment. And I like the faces etched in the marble looking back at you when you walk by. I could have taken a ton of photos of just that from different angles.

Then there is the Vietnam Memorial. I think it is interesting that the 3 soldier bronze statue was erected after much controversy that the wall of names wasn’t significant, or not depicting the heroism usually found in war memorials. I think that the Vietnam Memorial is arguably one of the most profound memorials. I find it to be extremely emotional, the simplicity of listing of all the names lost during that war in such a graphic format really shows the toll a war takes on a country. And what about those 3 soldiers made specifically to show a caucasian, latino, and african american. HHhhhmmm – what? no asians fought in the war? Or would people think that they were showing vietnamese soldiers and get in a uproar over that?

And speaking of Asians – anybody want to put up a memorial depicting the camps established during WWII to house all the asians who must be in collusion with the enemy because they look like them or came from there once upon a time?? Probably not since we seem to be doing some of that again since 9/11. I think it might be a good reminder to some to be wary where you tread, we’ve been there and it wasn’t such a great idea. History does repeat itself.

Enough of my ranting for now. My camera battery died before I got to the Vietnam women’s memorial or I’d have pics of that too. About time someone remembered the women! =)

Here are some pics from my wanderings.