WASHINGTON – Gray-haired war veterans sat in quiet reflection. Tourists came by to quietly say thanks. Schoolchildren on field trips crowded around asking for autographs. Decades in the planning, the National World War II Memorial opened to the public Thursday.
Under brilliant spring sunshine, visitors of all ages streamed in to look at Washington’s newest memorial and to pay their respects to those who served during one of the country’s most difficult and triumphant periods.
The memorial, which sits prominently between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, was long overdue but worth the wait, some vets said.
“It is beautiful,” declared George Lynch, an 81-year-old former Marine from Washington. “To see this memorial after all these years is absolutely marvelous.”
Lynch was accompanied by another World War II Marine, William “Abby” Abernathy, 91, also of Washington.
“So many people have stopped both Abby and me and said thank you,” Lynch said. “I can hardly talk about this without my eyes watering up. It really touches you.”
The granite and bronze monument features waterfalls, fountains and a curved wall bedecked with gold stars representing the more than 400,000 who gave their lives in the war. It has two hulking 43-foot arches at each end, one marked Atlantic and the other Pacific. They symbolize the two theaters of the war.
Fifty-six smaller granite pillars adorned with two bronze wreaths form the oval shape of the memorial and encircle a sunken plaza and pool. Each pillar is engraved with the name of a state or territory from that period.
While the formal dedication ceremony is a month away, project organizers raced to put the finishing touches on the memorial so the ever-dwindling number of World War II veterans could come to see it as soon as possible.
World War II vets are dying at a rate of 1,056 a day, the Veterans Affairs Department estimates. Fewer than 4 million of the 16 million who served will be alive at the time of the May 29 dedication.
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