Martin Luther King Memorial Not the Only Misquote on the Mall

Washington and the nation still await the formal dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, but that hasn’t stopped many of us from visiting the newest addition to the Mall. While critiquing new Memorials is a team sport in DC, reaction has been largely positive, and most of us find that the Memorial rounds out our nation’s civic space quite nicely.

However, one element has not been as well received. On my first visit, I was struck by the quote “ “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness” on the side of the high relief statue of Martin Luther King. It was the only discordant note on an otherwise well done Memorial, and struck me as odd for a man who was as well spoken and filled with humility as Dr. King.

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A Day in DC: Taking in the Memorials

View Memorials to White House in a larger map

Some time ago, I sketched out a sample itinerary for a day in DC focused on Capitol Hill that combined a bit of the National stuff that you’ve come to see with a little of the local color that humanizes the experience and makes your visit more memorable. So in that vein, let’s lay out another day, taking in the Memorials in the morning and a little of DC the rest of the day.

We’ll kick off at the Foggy Bottom Metro Stop on the Orange and Blue lines. We got a lot of walking to do this morning, and I don’t know about you, but I can’t do it without a cup of coffee. DC has some top notch coffee shops, but as we’re not near any of them now we’ll make do with the Starbucks at the GWU Hospital. We’re heading south on 23rd (downhill) towards the Lincoln Memorial. As we head down 23rd, you may want to swing by the Columbia Plaza shopping center (just past Virginia Ave) and pick up some water or other supplies. We’ll be walking a good chunk of the morning and pickings are scarce on the Mall.

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Will no one think of the tourists! - What to do if stranded in DC

photo by Mike ShowalterI know, I know, I'm supposed to finish up my discussion of African Americans at Arlington. I'll get to it, but for those of you who may not be paying attention, those of us in DC have been a little busy recently. As I write this, the snow has started again here in the Nation's Capital, and supplies of milk and humor are running low. Fortunately, we're still have some reserve stocks of beer, or things could be looking desperate.

I spent the first few days of this white nightmare holed up in my friend's place in Maryland; after staging an impromptu reenactment of the fall of Saigon with my two kids, getting out of here as the storm hit. Thanks to them, I still can make at least a tenuous claim to sanity, but I couldn't avoid heading home forever. After a few days of hanging out with three dogs and five children under five, and passing the time shoveling four hundred feet of driveway; we took advantage of the brief window between blizzards to bust our way back into DC yesterday.

So what's this got to do with visiting DC? I mean, who would be trying to visit us right now? And even if you wanted to, it would be virtually impossible to get here, as my wife has been finding out this last week. But what if you're weekend trip to DC was this week, and you're spending some more time here than planned? This doesn't happen often, but what do you do in DC when all the stuff you came to DC for is canceled?

So, in the off chance some of our visitors are trying to make lemonade out of yellow snow, let me give them a hand.

1. Transportation - You brought it with you! That's right, those two appendages sticking down from your pelvis. Just about everything else is going to be shut down or unreliable. Buses go fairly early, outside some main routes. Metro rail will stay open until we get about eight inches, then the above-ground stations will shut down. Even on the underground lines, be prepared for some serious headways (time between trains). And you have very little business driving in DC in the best of times, much less now. Cabs will still run in most weather, but will be scarce. Watch the meter, they're not allowed to charge more than 25% in a snow emergency. So focus on exploring the area around where you're staying and/or near open Metro stops.

2. What's open? Right now, precious little. In most cases, once the above ground lines shut down, the museums will follow suit, as it's hard to get staff in and out. One exception I've noticed: the Newseum has been persistently open these last few days, and Air and Space and Natural History were open today. Everything else has been more or less shut down since Friday (feel free to let me know if I'm wrong in the comments). The monuments shut down during the heavy winds, but if you're up for a good winter hike, I strongly recommend a stroll down to see them. The Korean Memorial is particularly striking in the snow.

3. So, if all the touristy stuff is shut down, then what? Despite some well publicized problems, I strongly recommend a good snowball fight. If you can't get a pick-up one going, blogs and twitter feeds are a good way to find out where folks are meeting up. This time around, good ones got going at Dupont Circle, the Mall, and Lincoln Park on Capitol Hill. You can also grab a piece of cardboard and go sledding. I personally like Capitol Hill, a traditional favorite. The only trick is avoiding the Capitol Police. Some are cool, some are, well, not.

4. And finally, you'll need a place to warm up. I find that locally operated places tend to do a better job of staying open than chains and such. For example, my personal favorite, Peregrine Coffee near Eastern Market is routinely fueling my habit while the Starbucks a block over might as well board up. So rather than head downtown, try Eastern Market,Dupont Circle, or some other Metro accessible neighborhood where the most of both the clientele and the staff normally walks there (and will to get out of the house!).

Ideally, you're reading this back home in some relatively less snowy place like Buffalo, but if you are stuck in DC, I hope this helps.

Knocking out the Memorials - the Korean War Veterans Memorial

Although the Vietnam Veterans Memorial got off to a rough start, once built it quickly became an American cultural icon. It proved to be incredibly popular and soon became a focal point for healing for all those that lived through those turbulent times.

Witnessing this, veterans of other wars displayed a renewed interest in memorials designed to capture the experience and commemorate all who fought in a specific conflict. Servicemembers who had participated in the Korean Conflict, often called with some justification "the Forgotten War", sought recognition of their sacrifices on the National Mall, and in 1992, the Korean War Veterans Memorial opened.

Now, while to me the Korean Memorial lacks the emotional impact of the Vietnam Wall, it is a very well put together Memorial full of symbolism and visual interest. Built on the opposite side of the Mall from the Vietnam Memorial, it balances the Wall nicely around the Lincoln Memorial. Designed purposely to evoke the Wall, it also contains a polished black granite wall, etched not with names, but with archival photos of servicemembers from the Korean Conflict.

These soldiers, sailors and airmen look out on 19 cast-steel statues, the real focal point of the Memorial. The statues represent 14 soldiers, 3 Marines, an Air Force Forward Air Controller, and a Navy Corpsman (medic for you land-lubbers). But beyond the diversity of the various Armed Forces, lies a more profound expression of diversity. The statues represent every ethnic group found in America, which was particularly fitting as this was the first war that America fought with an integrated military. No longer confined to separate units, the military was integrated well before our schools, by executive order of President Truman.

The number 19 is not random, either. It's half of 38, which has a dual significance as the 38th parallel of latitude that separated the two Koreas and the number of months the War (or technically "Police Action") lasted. Why half? Reportedly, they wanted to do the full number, but were restricted in size. If you look at the right spot, on the lower corner right next to the granite wall, you will see the statues reflected in the wall, right next to the actual ones, making a total of, you guessed it, 38.

Many will claim that this Memorial is best visited at night, and I won't argue with them, but if you get the opportunity, visit the Memorial after a decent snowfall. They're few and far between, at least catching them before the "wintery mix" turns it into ice, but the Memorial is stunning in the snow. The entire Memorial is designed to capture the rugged and hostile nature of the Korean Conflict, with weather at times as much an enemy as the North Koreans or Chinese. A fact which I can personally attest to, having been covered in a sheet of ice on my ship while conducting exercises in South Korea. Among the elements portraying this: the ponchos of the soldiers sculpted in a fluid manner, the gentle rise meant to evoke the rocky terrain, and the rise and fall of the etched faces on the reflecting wall, which when looked at from the distance as a pattern look as if they provide a mountain backdrop to the Memorial.

So perhaps its fitting that today, Veteran's Day, is a cold, wet, miserable day here in DC. Think of it as a good day to get the full Korean War Veterans Memorial experience.