“On the West side, the Tidal Basin,”
Yes, but the Tidal Basin isn’t immediately across the street from the Holocaust Museum, as if you cross the street and there’s the rental paddleboats. There IS a decent-sized stretch of park lawn between the street and the Tidal Basin – I’ve walked on it, I just don’t remember now how big it is, a fraction of a block, a block, or somewhat bigger.
I have a confession to make. Prior to this thread, all I’d seen of the proposed monument was a few quick pictures on the TV. My impression was that it would be the usual pseudo-heroic edifice. It was Ikes post that prompted me to dig up the link I posted above. Now that I’ve had some time to really look at and digest the visuals, well, it kinda looks like something built out of Legos. So I gotta agree with you guys, it’s ugly.
I still think WW II veterans deserve something tangible for the rest of us to remember their sacrifices by, and I still don’t have a problem with that something being somewhere on the mall, but this thing looks like a rush job by a government committee.
So is there anything we can do about it? Or is it too late?
To be utterly brutal, shouldn’t we be considering future generations rather than the living vets? Yes, the WWII vets deserve every tribute and encomium we can give them, but monuments aren’t for the living, they exist to instruct generations yet unborn. The WWII vets will all be dead in another twenty years, and the monument will have little meaning for them then. I would hate to think that their sacrifice in the defense of freedom will be commemorated by a hideous edifice that will make our great-grandchildren cringe. Don’t we owe the memory of our vets to build something that will inspire and teach their descendants, rather than some Albert Speer-wanna be platz?
Bush got himself a little Rose-Garden-Bill-Signing ceremony on Memorial Day, and as I understand it the bill renders further litigation trying to halt the memorial damn nigh impossible.
I think we’re stuck with it.
I’d have been happier with the open space between the Lincoln and FDR Memorials, keeping it in the same vicinity as the Vietnam and Korea memorials. But I don’t have a serious problem with the location selected - it befits the final Great War the US will ever be involved in (or so I hope). The reflection of the Washington Monument in the Reflecting Pond, as seen from the steps of the Lincoln, will also go unspoiled. Concerns that the traditional rallying place of American popular demonstrations will be spoiled also seem a little tame.
Structures look different when complete from the architectural renderings. The Vietnam “Wall” is the best example - far from being a simple black gash to remind us of the shame of that war, it’s instead a shrine and place of healing. I don’t see how the Korean War granite soldiers, marching toward heaven (?) can ever have the same impact for that war’s veterans.
The different styles of the memorials in Washington are also good reminders of the evolution of popular standards of appropriateness for these things - nothing could be more different than the Washington and FDR Memorials, for instance, and the WW2 Memorial will be another reminder.
But it’s long past time, let’s get it done.
Now, as for our Canadian friend Sam Stone’s rant about giving them an appropriate monument, I thought it would be informative to see what his own country has done that he implicitly is proud of. Seems Canada just carved new dates on their existing WW1 memorial in front of Parliament and called it a day. I hope Sam saves some of that pink paint for Ottawa.