The second memorial in Washington, DC that will never stop amazing me is the Korean War Veterans Memorial.
The construction began in June 1992, and the memorial was dedicated on July 27, 1995 (the day of the 42nd anniversary of the armistice of the Korean War). This memorial is dedicated to all the men and women who served during the war.
From above, the memorial looks like a circle that is intersected by a triangle. Within the triangle wall there are 19 steel statues that represent a patrol squad. These statues include 14 figures from the US Army, three figures from the Marine Corps, one statue represents a Navy Corpsman and another one is an Air Force Forward Air Observer.
These steel soldiers are fully dressed and ready with their equipment. Our guide told us that each one of those statues has a different face structure and expression, thus being individual and extremely realistic.
I especially suggest you visit this memorial when it’s already dark outside. The effect is much more astonishing. The statues of the soldiers seem real and, sometimes, even scary. In the dark, you feel the whole atmosphere of war and feel like you’re a part of it all. Their faces are illuminated by lights from the ground, and if you look at the faces for a while, you’ll fall for an illusion that a muscle just moved.
Another granite wall features photographs of soldiers and other people who were somehow involved in the war that have been sandblasted into it.
The effect these photos create cannot be described. You can clearly see your reflection in the granite wall. Whenever you focus on your reflection, you see an ordinary mirror-like wall and yourself. But as soon as you focus on the details a little more, you lose yourself and instead find serious and sometimes even sad faces wearing military hats. And they all are looking at you.
This memorial also includes the Pool of Remembrance. There are inscriptions around that pool listing the numbers of people killed, missing and captured. Next to the numbers from the United States are those from the United Nations troops.
There is also another granite wall included in the memorial. This wall bears the simple but sad message, “Freedom Is Not Free.”
Every global traveler will enjoy this incredible memorial, as Washington, DC is one of those trip destinations that will keep you impressed long after you leave.
Photo: © cliff1066™,
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