Located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, the World War II Memorial honors and commemorates the 16 million Americans who served in a war involving 56 nations.
They have given their sons to the military services. They have stoked the furnaces and hurried the factory wheels. They have made the planes and welded the tanks, riveted the ships and rolled the shells.
--President Franklin D. Roosevelt
Architect Friedrich St. Florian designed a classically inspired civic space (completed in 2004), a contemporary version of the public square in an amphitheater-like form. Pavilions mark the north and south sides of the memorial, victory arches dedicated to the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of war.
The essence of the memorial is for future generations. What we want to tell young people now--and a hundred and two hundred years from now--is that there was a generation of Americans that stood up and defended our ideals and principles when challenged. --Florian
Two semicircular colonnades of state and territory pillars outline ramps leading to a central memorial plaza and pool. The pillars' communal base and bronze wreaths depicting oak leaves and wheat spears (designed by sculptor Ray Kaskey) symbolize national unity, the collective power of democratic principles and strength and bounty of the nation.
The Freedom Wall on the western side of the plaza contains a field of 4,048 gold stars, one for each 100 fallen Americans. More than 400,000 American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and others died in the war.
The site is the element that will give the memorial its principal power and meaning. World War II, which has been called the most important event in world history, takes its rightful place on the Mall on the centerline between references to our cardinal moments in each of the preceding centuries--the monuments to Washington and Lincoln.--J. Carter Brown, Chairman, Commission of Fine Arts
17th Street and Constitution Avenue NW.
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