World War II memorial
I was there the first year the National World War II memorial opened. I returned this year with my friends Allison and Nancy. It was Nancy’s first visit. You can see some quick shots I took on my flickr account. 
Each time I go I am struck anew with how much attention to detail went into the planning for this memorial. When I could not recall the significance of each star in the Freedom Wall with the words here We Mark The Price of Freedom, I asked the helpful park attendant. He reminded me that each star stood for the lives of 100 service members killed during World War II. There are 4,000 stars. 
Maybe I shouldn’t be visiting memorials so soon after sending two boys to basic training 
while our country is involved in this war?! I learned from my friend Margaret how her son has arrived in Iraq to help train Iraqi’s, but how the group he has worked with throw down their rifles and flee under fire. It is only one story of many, but we should be reading all of them. Marc Aronson on the SLJ blog stated it well. We need to be reading the military blogs of our troops to hear about things from their point of view, also.
I met with publishers of children’s books and pled for more books about war, military and weapons. Somehow everyone keeps publishing books on peace when the students are clamoring to read about the battles of the past. As my sons reminded me, if you don’t know the history, you are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. We need both types of books.
