Park
World War II Memorial
Sunken plaza of fifty-six granite pillars and a wall of gold stars honoring wartime sacrifice.
0:00≈ 2 min
Location
0:00≈ 2 min
About this audio guide
This guide to the World War II Memorial traces it back to Roger Durbin, an Ohio mail carrier and Battle of the Bulge veteran who noticed there was no memorial to his war on the National Mall and cornered his congresswoman about it at a local fish fry. You'll hear how Marcy Kaptur's 1987 bill stalled for years over design, location, and cost, and how Durbin kept pushing anyway, rallying schoolchildren to send in spare change. Look near the Pennsylvania and Delaware pillars for a small carved doodle soldiers left behind wherever they went.
This audio guide was created using AI.