WASHINGTON, D.C.

Momorial Day 1997

A visit to Washington, D.C. with all its history and monuments is a religious experience in every sense of the word. I had been stationed in Washington in 1969 and 1970 and knew the city well. I drug my Mother through the White House, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and the monuments. But that was a long time ago.

I wanted to walk the Mall from one end to the other. The Mall is a grassy, tree lined strip that appears to me to be about a quarter mile wide and two to four miles long with the Capitol Building at the east end, George Washington Monument in the middle, and Lincoln Monument at the west end.

The Capitol is very impressive, just knowing that you're in the building where historic decisions are made--its the center of the universe. Its amazing how free access to the building is. Security is very low key.

The walk along the Mall is like walking in the best park in the world--lots of people, but lots of space, too. The George Washington Monument stands proudly in the center on a knoll. Some say its a phallus symbol for the father of our country. I never cease to be amused by how you can clearly see where work stopped. The stones are different in the top two thirds from the bottom. The original builder could not raise enough money to build the monument, so he said, "If I start it, someone will finish it". And, he was right. Standing at the base, the 550 feet to the top is mind boggling.

As we walked along the reflecting pool toward the Lincoln Monument, I decided that I had to see the Vietnam granite wall, but I didn't think that Gina was up to it. As we approached Lincoln, she said, "I want to see the Wall". Anyway, we continued into the Lincoln Monument. He sits like a huge giant in the center. His Gettysburg Address is on the wall to his right and his second inaugural address is on the wall to his left. Its truly a temple.

Approaching the Wall, Gina stopped at one of the books that lists the more than 58,000 names in alphabetical order giving the location of each. She had graduated from high school as the war reached it highest activity. Several of her classmates' names are on the wall including a special friend she calls Joey. The war had a profound affect on her and has left unhealed wounds on her. She once talked to a recruiter about going to Vietnam herself, but since she was a woman they said she would not be allowed to go there. (However, there are 8 women's names on the wall.) I too had many friends whose names are on the wall. Having served in Vietnam, off and on, from mid-1965 until the very end in early 1973, I have a totally different view of the war from that of Gina. I don't view the war as a useless event. I stood there, amazed at the hush of the crowd, and felt a very personal attachment to the those 58,000 who did not come back. After she located the panel and counted down the lines to Joey's name, we walked away in silence as a light rain fell.

Saturday was a gorgeous day, a great day to visit Arlington National Cemetery. The cemetery is not so much a war memorial as a history memorial. The unknown, the little known, and the famous from the Civil War to today are buried there: father and son Generals MacAuthor, Major Audey Murphy the most decorated soldier in the Second World War, Admiral Rickover with 62 years of active duty, Robert Kennedy, John Kennedy with his family of 2 enfants and wife Jackie. We viewed the Kennedy graves with the eternal flame with it's commanding view of the city of Washington and reflected on how the world might have been different had he lived. We solemnly watched the changing of the guard of the unknown solders: IN HONORED GLORY HERE LIES A SOLDIER KNOWN ONLY TO GOD. We looked over the city from the Custus-Lee Mansion, the family home of Robert E. Lee on the highest hill in the cemetery.

Our visit was concluded after visiting two of my favorite Smithsonian museums, The Air and Space Museum and The History of the United States Museum. We saw from a distance the White House, Jefferson Memorial, and the Marine Iwo Jima Memorial, but did not get there. It was a great visit.