This is the World War II Memorial. It is between the reflecting pool and the Washington Monument. I really enjoyed the small and larger fountains. Lit at night it is beautiful!
Some where on this memorial is a wall of gold stars. These 4, 048 stars are in honor of the 405,000 plus American lives that were lost during WWII. I'm sure I missed many significant features at this memorial, but it is hard to miss the two large pavilions. One is dedicated to the Pacific area and the other the Atlantic area.
This is a picture looking through one of them. The sculpture inside looks like a wreath being carried by doves (maybe eagles ?). I'm sure there is a lot of meaning behind this. I like to think of them as a vision of peace. It just seemed so natural for these birds to be carrying these huge wreaths and working together for peace.
Another thing I noticed was this doodle on one of the walls of the monument. (I did the one pictured below) I couldn't understand why no one cleaned it off. I should have realized that it belonged there since that area was kind of 'roped off'.
As it turns out, this was a sign of hope used during the war. It's beginnings is almost like an 'urban legend'. The most popular story of its origin was about a shipyard inspector who signed the items he inspected with a version of the figure above. The sailors would see this and liked it. They would then leave it in ports where they docked. The troops would then see it and like it and leave it other places. Soon where ever troops went they would find the figure and in turn would leave it for others. It was great comfort to know that Kilroy was there before them paving the way and stayed behind bringing up the rear. This website http://www.kilroywashere.org/ has many stories about Kilroy sightings. I really enjoyed the one about Stalin in a latrine!
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