National Mall Photo Essay: War Memorials

December 14, 2007 eunkyungan

Memorials are something that is designed to keep remembrance alive of somebody who has died or an event in which people have died.  A good example of this is the war memorials.  The capitol of the United States of America, District of Columbia, has these war memorials on the National Mall.  For this assignment I have visited the three war memorials, the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  I choose these three because these were the only war memorials on the National Mall and I wanted to see how each of the three wars were designed to remember and present history.  As I visited each of the war memorials I got a different feel for each of the different war memorials.  The World War II Memorial gave a very positive and joyful feel whereas the Korean War Veterans Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial gave a negative and gloomy feel.             

The first memorial I visited of the three was the World War II Memorial.  When I got to this memorial it was very open and grand.  It had a very tall entrance in to the memorial with some eagles and a halo on top of the entrance way.  Once I stepped in to it I can immediately see the fountain in the middle squirting up high and around the memorial there were these column types that represented each of the states in the United States of America.  There were also encouraging quotes by presidents that were engraved on to the stones.  This memorial definitely gave it a victorious experience that glorified the war.  The visitors at this memorial seemed to really enjoy the view I saw many people taking pictures of the memorial and of each other.                 

After visiting the World War II memorial I made my way to the Korean War Veterans Memorial.  The location of this memorial was definitely different from the World War II memorial.  The World War II Memorial was in a very open area where everyone can see it even if they were driving by but the Korean War Veterans Memorial was in a corner almost where it was not easily seen as the World War II Memorial.  When I got to this memorial I got an opposite feel from the World War II Memorial.  What really struck me were the facial expressions of the solider statues.  This one solider statue had a very exhausting and terrifying facial expression.  And there was this long dark black wall engraved with all the war veterans of the Korean War.  Unlike the World War II Memorial it was not open and bright with a large fountain in the middle squirting out water, rather there was only a long black wall with image engraving and a bunch of the solider statues.  Also, here I did not notice many people taking pictures here, rather everyone seemed sort of serious.

The last memorial I visited was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  This memorial was pretty similar to the Korean War Veterans Memorial, but much more plain and simple.  This memorial has this long, even longer than the Korean War Veterans Memorial, black wall that was slightly angled in the middle and had engravings of all the veterans who have lost their lives in the Vietnam War.  Although this memorial is much more plain and simple than the Korean War Veterans Memorial, this memorial gave a more serious and depressing feel.  I got the same sort of feeling here like when I go to my grandparent’s cemetery.  I think this is because this memorial focused mainly on the veterans who have lost their lives in the war by having their names engraved where people can come and find the names of their lost ones.  I saw visitors here getting more emotional than the other two memorials by leaving flowers and photographs and getting a piece of paper and pencil and tracing the names from the wall.  Unlike the World War II Memorial I did not notice people taking pictures of them at this memorial; I think I was the only one taking these pictures.

After visiting each of the three war memorials I began to think about how the design of each memorial reflects on how our nation wishes to remember and present history.  And from what I know about each of these wars, I know that America won in the World War II and in the Korean War there was no winning side and in the Vietnam War the other side had won the war.  Therefore I think that the design of each memorial represents these.  The World War II memorial is very victorious and glorifies the war and the Korean War Veterans Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is very gloomy and serious and reflects on all the veterans that have lost their lives fighting in the war.   Especially in the Vietnam War, since the other side has won it would mean that more soldiers on this side have died so in the Vietnam Veterans Memorial it just has a list of all the soldiers who have lost their lives in the war.  

For Photos from the World War II Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial click here.

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