WWII MEMORIAL

Honoring Our Heroes

A site dedicated to the WWII Memorial and the veterans who preserved our way of life during WWII.  I'm Stephen R. Brown and the author of "WWII Memorial: Jewel of the Mall" . The book is available everywhere on the Washington Mall except the WWII Memorial.   I post images of Memorial events, WWII Veterans meeting with Senator Dole , etc....on, Wednesday and Saturday evenings. THESE IMAGES CAN BE DOWNLOADED FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY unless you get a signed license from me. The most recent article on Honor Flight can be seen here.

Sun eventually shines!

I arrived at the WWII Memorial to see a clump of plastic raincoats and umbrellas and there was Senator Dole in the midst of the early morning crowd.  The rain soon turned torrential and lightning began to strike and he and Mrs. Dole went to the car for a bit. We thought we would convince him to go home and we did but as he drove out, I noticed him looking over at the Memorial and the vets and I had this feeling he would be back.  I was right.  He smiled and said "I got a haircut..." meaning he had given us all the slip and was free to hang around the Memorial and hang he did for some two hours.  

And just as he returned, the clouds began to clear and five or six buses showed up and with them Jim McLaughln who pitched and took pictures with me.  Between the two of us, we must have gone through a couple of hundred photos and in the end the sun came out, the birds were chirping and it was sunnyville in DC!  I believe that Honor Flight is blessed with good weather and blessed with veterans who really don't care about the weather anyway.  It was just another great day on the Mall.  My new waterproof camera worked great as you can see in the accompanying photo pages.

Chicago Honor Flight: On the March!

The Windy City rolled into DC which should be renamed the "Soggy City" this year. There were ninety-one Veterans and another 90 guardians in blissful tow. They arrived at the Memorial a bit late in the afternoon because they had visited the other Memorials before they got to the WWII to enable the Veterans to appreciate the size of the WWII Memorial. It's eight acres certainly make it the largest of the Memorials and the location is so amazing that it took ten years of legal wrangling to finalize it!

I managed to get photographs of Mary, Jean Marie and Suzanne before they disappeared with their veterans. Today (and for the past few days), a father/son team has dressed in WWII garb to greet the vets.  I've got a few photos of them and will try to get their names for the next post. It's nice to see a father and son working together with the veterans.

I advise Chicago  (and will be glad to advise any Honor Flight) on photo storage and so have had the opportunity to witness "big city" Chicago at work. The committee on the phone conferences is forty-five to fifty people and they are Chicago's most connected. The meetings are run like clockwork so "60 minutes is an hour" and that's the end of the meeting.  They are so successful that 1500 citizens turn up to greet the veterans in Chicago.  A local TV station is doing a 30 minute piece for July 4th weekend.

Al Doehring, National Park Service volunteer, and I had the opportunity to spend some time together discussing the construction of the eagles. it may be time to start sorting through the 15,000 images I have of the construction to show more detail...and get that on a separate historical website....

D-Day from Bedford, Virginia

Wandering far afield, George Kerestes chose to spend this D-Day in Bedford, Va. His photos are on the image site.

“WE DO REMEMBER”  “WE WILL REMEMBER”
Those were the key words from this past weekend when I had the honor to attend the 65th Anniversary of D-Day at the “National D-Day Memorial” in Bedford Virginia.  On that day I was one of over 4,000 who attended the Memorial to mark the massive Allied invasion of World War II..  I had always wanted to visit and this weekend presented me the perfect opportunity.
Why Bedford Virginia?  On June 6, 1944 Bedford earned the distinction as the town that sustained the highest per capita loss of lives on D-Day in Normandy, France.. Within the span of a single day, the community lost 19 citizen soldiers from the 29th Infantry Division of the National Guard. (The entire population of Bedford at that time was 3,200.)  By the climax of the Normandy invasion, 23 Bedford men would die in France.  The D-Day news hit Bedford via the local Western Union where on July 17, 1944, 19 telegrams containing the same message over and over “The Secretary of War regrets to inform you…” and each bearing the name a Bedford man.  For this reason, Congress chose Bedford as the site for the National D-Day Memorial which was dedicated on June 6, 2001 to memorialize “the valor, fidelity and sacrifice” of the Allied Forces on D-Day and to ensure that future generations would continue to remember and learn from that historic event.  

Fred Wedhorns: Lone Eagle gets "Rock Star" Treatment

From Judy Lemmons, Honor Flight:

A BIG thank you to each one of you for the absolute "service before self" attitude you displayed this past weekend in support of one of our heroes, Mr Fred Wedhorn of Tucson Arizona.  This Lone Eagle wasn't lonely very long.
 
Every detail was thought of and executed with such compassion and patriotism that words cannot express the appreciation of the entire Honor Flight Network not to mention those of our Hero, Mr Wedhorn and his niece, Barbara.
 
I have heard from Barbara this morning and she has expressed over and over how unbelieveable it all was and that he went home knowing what a true Hero he is to all of us.  They are treating him like a "rock star" she said.  But a rock star doesn't come close to what kind of "star" he and the many thousands of "the Greatest Generation" truly are.  These are our Heroes, our role models.
 
And you are mine...I sent out a simple email asking for a volunteer driver to pick him up and escort him to the hotel Friday evening and it turned into a welcome and send-off befitting royalty.  You are each one to be commended for the role you played.  It will always be in your heart of hearts knowing that you gave to one 97 year old soldier, one last hurrah -- to visit HIS memorial.
 
With his arthritic hands held in salute to each one of you, and his heart filled with such utter joy at his experience, will give him hope and peace and at days end, he will know, he is appreciated for his service and sacrifice so many years ago on foreign soil and never forgotten.
 
My favorite quote, and I use it frequently, is very fitting for such a time as this...
 "They may not remember what you did.  They may not remember what you said.  But they will never forget the way you've made them feel.."
 
Thanks to each and everyone of you for "the way you made him feel."...
 
Sincerely and with great admiration and respect.
 Judy Lemmons
Dir, Public Relations/Protocol
Honor Flight Network

New WWII Memorial Photos on D-Day Anniversary

 

Kari Beardsley and Leah Puttkammer made yesterday's images and did a spectacular job. The really got into gear and captured Brian Duffy, Earl Morse, Bobbi and Bill Richards and some WWII buffs dressed in combat uniforms greeting our veterans.  Their photography is becoming more sophisticated every week and kari always does her distinctive "fountain shot" which seems new each time she does it.My other news source--my mother in law--said that TV--local and national (CNN and Fox) --covered the Memorial all day.  The weekend seems to have been a public relations coup of sort and hopefully every hub will benefit. Thanks to you all again for your efforts.  I am spending the weekend with my graduating daughter who thanks to the Greatest Generation can speak Spanish and Chinese as well as English!!

And from Leah..."A line of spontaneous bystanders ushered in one of the honor flight groups by clapping as they all went into the memorial. I swear they were clapping for 15 minutes straight.... I know the veterans really appreciated it."  And that's how we roll!

Normandy Beach: 65 years After

Senators Robert and Elizabeth Dole flew over yesterday to attend the Normandy D-day Festivities with President Obama today and tomorrow.  Jeff Miller, Mike Marshall and Marion Watkins accompanied them along with some 80 veterans.  Now that has to be exciting.  And hopefully some good press for Honor Flight.  I spend a lot of time with Senator Dole and when he gets talking about Honor Flight, he does go on! We may soon have hubs in France!!

Chicago Honor Flight has organized an amazing series of events at Catigny which is mentioned in the blog below and the New York Times has a feature section on events celebrating WWII this weekend.  It's quite extraordinary how much attention the period has drawn and the many re-enactments that occur.

From Pam Nichols at Honor Flight Alabama, I received this note which reflects the sentiment of every Honor Flight Hub:  

Please take a moment to remember that on Saturday, June 6, we will mark the 65th anniversary of D-Day. On June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded -- but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.

Faces of D-Day by David Burnett

My good friend and long-time colleague David Burnett has been photographing D-Day for thirty plus years now. He did a special piece for Time.com on D-day featuring some of his images and his reflections are as poignant as his pictures.  

Honoring our Heroes

Alabama Honor Flight is featured in Hoffman Media's new "Celebrate" magazine which goes to press today.  Linda Wright and her staff did a beautiful job on the layout and design of the images and it was a pleasure working with them.  It's also a pleasure to be able to use my images to honor Pam, Amy and the many volunteers who staff Honor Flight!  You are all crazily amazing!!!  The eight page layout can be previewed at the WWII Memorial Photo Site.

it won’t be on the newsstands until July 7. Also, at present the magazine is only sold on newsstands such as Barnes & Noble and grocery stores like Publix and Kroger. 

Chicago Honor Flight D-Day at Cantigny

Download DDay65_Invite

Chicago is going to town on D-Day with an enormous celebration at Catigny, Wheaton, Illinois.  You can download the invitation just above the picture.

Battle of Midway Talk: June 6, 2009

Daniel Arnant will be giving a Battle of Midway talk this Saturday (06 June) and selected following Saturdays at WW II Memorial.  He will have a display of about sixty annotated 8x10 photos provided by U.S. Naval Institute, graphics, and Pacific Ocean map.  the talk lasts about 20 minutes.  Weather forecast so far looks good for this Saturday.