Germantown library; Vietnam Veterans, Korean War Veterans, Lincoln, MLK, FDR and Jefferson Memorials

I originally thought I would drive to Gettysburg this morning, but my plans changed. A friend suggested some other places to see while I'm in the ares, such as the battlefields of Manasas and Bull Run in Virginia, and Fort McHenry in Maryland. That caused me to rethink my itinerary.

Since I stayed in Germantown last night, I decided to spend the morning in the Germantown library. It's a large library with lots of areas to work and study. I mainly updated my blog, and lost track of time.

After sitting inside all morning and into the afternoon, I was ready to get outside. I had a late lunch or early dinner at the Sabai Sabai Thai restaurant across the street from the library. I ordered the ginger stir fry. I don't know what kind of mushrooms those flat, wrinkly mushrooms were, but the ginger and mushrooms were delicious!

After my meal, I drove to the National Mall to visit some of the memorials. After sitting all day, I was ready to walk. I walked to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial, the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial.

The war memorials were sobering. Seeing so many names on both the Vietnam and  Korean memorial walls brings home the cost of war. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall has over 58,000 names, and the Korean War Veterans Memorial wall has over 36,000 American names and the names of 7,100 Koreans who died helping us. Each name represents an individual soldier who had his or her life seemingly ahead of them and lost that life in the conflict.

As one veteran wrote on one of the signs placed below the wall in the above photo, "I am a Vietnam veteran. I like the memorial. And if it makes it difficult to send people into battle again... I'll like it even more."

Here is another random photo placed at the base of the wall. It shows how young some of these soldiers were who gave their lives. 

I had a neighbor who went to Vietnam and came back alive. I have since known others who served in Vietnam and made it back, and though of one of them when I was at the memorial.

The writing at the base of the reflection pool at the Korean War Veterans Memorial lists: Dead: USA=36,634 UN=628,833; Missing: USA=8,177 UN=470,267; Captured: USA=7,140 UN=92,970; Wounded: USA=103,284 UN=1,064,453. Those numbers are staggering!

The lincoln memorial is familiar to all of us, as its image is on the back of the penny. Lincoln also served  during a bloody war. Some of his speeches are engraved on the intereior walls.

I passed by the Martin Luther King Memorial and FDR Memorial on the way to the Jefferson Memorial. I took a photo of a statue of Martin Luther King.

I took a couple of photos at the FDR Memorial. The Civil Conservation Corps during Roosevelt's administration gave a lot of men some meaningful work during the depression and  we still benefit from much of the work they did in our national parks.

 

The Jefferson Memorial was at the far end of my walk. It also had  some good quotes on the interior walls.

I learned that the tidal pool in front of the Jefferson Memorial is for flood control. The water level in the Potomac river rises and falls, and Washington, D.C., used to flood a lot. The tidal pool serves as a buffer for the rising and falling waters.

The Washington Memorial looked peaceful in the fading light. I captured the moment with this photo, taken by the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. It was dark by the time I got back to my car.

I drove back to Germantown, Maryland for the night. For tomorrow's itinerary, I decided today that I'll skip Gettysburg and won't backtrack to see the Manassas or Bull Run battlefields. They are all important historical sites, but I've seen them before, when I lived in North Carolina. Tomorrow I plan to head to Baltimore and see Fort McHenry (which I have never seen before) and then continue on to Philadelphia.