Taking up from where we , our group wends itself across to the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
America has learned from it’s past, and again the Memorial has a distinctive design. It opens with life size figures of a platoon in V formation moving through the jungle. From there it moves to a memorial wall, which similar to the Vietnam memorial, is highly reflective.
However here there are no names, instead faces are etched into the surface from real photos of the time. This had the surreal effect that when some veterans first came to the monument they saw the faces of their friends, or in some cases themselves staring back at them. Faces frozen as they looked during the war, a reminder of their younger selves as they themselves age.
I immediately think of Australia’s ANZAC motto – “Age shall not weary them”. It’s appropriate as though it is Apr 24 here in the US, it is actually ANZAC day back home. Amazing how the Universe can conspire at times.
This is the last of the war memorials, and though the day is bright, I’m gripped in a melancholy and humble mood as we exit. It will take a little while to lift, as it always does around ANZAC day, or any visit to such places.
Though our guide is not, I remain silent until we reach our next destination, a memorial to Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. A 30 ft tall MLK Jnr is carved out of a single block of stone (called the Stone of Hope) and surrounded by 14 of his most famous quotes. The statue also contains an inscription on one side. Though it was originally planned to have inscriptions on both sides, a misunderstanding led to there not being enough room for the full quote, and a summarised one that was used was quickly erased.
This is the only monument to a non-president in the National Mall, and speaks volumes for Dr. King’s place in American history. His presence is interwoven through the American fabric, found on roads and schools, and his memory is continuously quoted in civil issues.
We have 2 stops left, and though we’ve been walking just over 3 hours, it feels less, All credit to our guide, who has managed to keep us entertained and informed throughout.
The penultimate visit is to the FDR Memorial. FDR has been important for many reasons – he lead America out of the Great Depression, he was the first and only disabled president, and is the only one to have served 4 terms. (It’s now legislatively restricted to 2). Despite that, this is the monument that touches me least – not for any failing of the designer or it’s subject, but more because it seems to me that his influence on the world outside America does not seem as profound as the others. or at least that’s my impression.
This memorial does not lack for controversy either – particularly around the depiction of FDR – which originally did not show his wheelchair, until this was changed with the addition of wheels at the behest of the disabled community. A second statue in a proper wheelchair was added later, technically outside the memorial itself (a compromise between the different factions). It seems as if original designs are being second guessed all the time over here.
The sun is starting to get low in the sky as we leave FDR behind and walk around the tidal basin to our last stop, The Thomas Jefferson Memorial. Having been to Monticello, there is little new to learn here. Despite that, the statue of Jefferson along with huge inscriptions of the Constitution (which he authored) remind me of his involvement in America’s birth. Our tour guide rightly describes him as a president of conflicted ideas (he owned slaves until the day he died), and he comes off a little less wholesome than he did in his home state.
All up the tour has been absolutely brilliant. Each of us tips our guide whatever we feel the tour was worth, and he is amply rewarded by the group. Four or five hundred cash free dollars for an afternoon’s talking isn’t bad work if you can get it.
I’ll cover the other Washington stuff shortly.
