Free previewStop 4 of National Mall Walking Tour
Fifty-Six Pillars, One Veteran's Question
You've just crossed 17th Street from the Washington Monument, and the ground is sloping down ahead of you into a sunken oval plaza with a fountain at its heart. Arranged in a semicircle around it are granite pillars, each 17 feet tall, each decorated with a bronze wreath. Walk close to one and read the name carved on it. Each pillar is inscribed with the name of a state or territory.
This memorial began with one man asking a simple question. In 1987, a World War II veteran named Roger Durbin went to his congresswoman, Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, and asked whether a World War II memorial could be built. Kaptur introduced a bill that December, and the session ended without a vote. She tried again in 1989 and in 1991, and both bills suffered the same fate.
That's the opening. The rest plays at stop 4 of National Mall Walking Tour (3 min in all). Unlock the tour to hear it all, or try stop 1 free first.
