This spring I saw the WWII Memorial in Washington D.C. for the first time. It was beautiful and moving to say the least. This part of the monument hit me the hardest.
The plaque reads:
Freedom Walls hold 4,048 gold stars. Each gold star represents one hundred American service personnel who died or remain missing in the war. The 405,399 American dead or missing from World War II are second only to the loss of more than 620,000 Americans during our Civil War.
Powerful.
My grandpa was a lucky one, who was able to come home after serving in the Pacific in WWII. So many others had their lives cut short. This is true of any conflict or military operation. It is those whom we remember today on Memorial Day.
Here’s another part of the WWII Memorial on the opposite side of the Freedom Wall of stars.
We visited on a splendid, sunny day during the week. A few more pictures captured the full monument and the Pacific side, including New Guinea and Buna, where my grandpa served in the Army.
Blessings to those who made the ultimate sacrifice and to their friends and families. May we all remember and honor them.
go mama o. 
I love that memorial. I love all the D.C. memorials. My favorites are the quotes like the one you pictured above that you find etched in marble at the JFK grave, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson. D.C. is such a powerful reminder of where we come from.
Yes, it is. I think I read your post about DC a while back. You lived there, right?
Yes, loved it!
Amazing pictures. So hard to look at the beauty of those stars and understand what they represent.
Agreed! My kids were putting their hands on the fountain, while I was getting a little emotional. They are a bit young to comprehend the gravity of it all. Someday.
Reblogged this on go mama o and commented:
On Memorial Day, it seems fitting to share a blog post I wrote last year after visiting the WWII Memorial in Washington DC.