Today I made a trip from NYC to D.C. to visit Memorial Park, as well as the White House, the Capital, and the Smithsonian. The Vietnam's Veteran's wall, shown above, was the real reason for my trip to D.C., and a very touching and heartbreaking experience. There are simply too many names on this wall, and it really hits home when you see them all. I was happy to be able to pay my respects however, as it is someplace I have wanted to visit for a long time.
I also visited the Korean war memorial, which was very touching. The Memorial has many different facets, with the statues shown above among the most prominent. There are a total of 19 soldier statues (in doubling the number, this represents the 38th parallel between North and South Korea and also the 38 months of war), making their way through the brush towards a US flag. Opposite the statues is the Mural Wall, made of polished granite, and etched with over 2400 images. Over 15,ooo photographs were obtained from the national archive to create this memorial. The mural depicts Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard personnel. The reflective quality of the Black Granite creates the image of a total 38 statues, again, symbolic of the 38th Parallel and the 38 months of the war. The soldiers represented are of different branches of the service, as well as different ethnic backgrounds. The wall and the statues both meet at a pool of reflection, in which are engraved the numbers of me and women killed, or listed as MIA. Also etched in granite, are the words, "Freedom is not free".
Also worth the visit was the Lincoln Memorial, an immense building with not only Lincoln's famous statue, but two of his speeches engraved on the walls of granite inside the Memorial. This lies at one end of the Reflection Pool, with the Washington Monument at the other. Memorial Park is quite a site to see, and I do hope that all of our Inland Northwest Ballet dancers have the opportunity to visit the park at some point in your lives!
