BY MCKENNA DECKER
The city of Washington DC is as much as city of museums as it is of monuments. My
first week in the city was spent visiting a majority of the memorials along the National Mall. It
was raining that day so not many people were out but I can remember visiting these same
monuments when I was in elementary school in June and they were packed. However even
though the number of people was different, the mood around the monuments was the
same—quiet respect, especially at the war memorials.
Some of the most famous are the Lincoln Memorial and The Wall. Within two years of
his assassination, the government had already planned to create something to memorialize the
16th president of the United States. The first world I would use to describe the Lincoln Memorial
is imposing. It stands on opposite to the Washington Monument with the Reflection Pool
between them. You walk up a series of steps to a temple in the Greco-Roman style with a larger
than life statue of Lincoln sitting on a chair, though it looks more like a throne in my opinion,
with side aisles available for people to stand in. On either side of the memorial, inscriptions of
Lincoln’s famous speeches are carved into the wall.
On the outside, a plaque has been placed in the steps to show people where Martin Luther
King Jr. stood when he delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. I noticed that people usually did
a double take when they realized what the plaque said. People were taking pictures of themselves with Lincoln, next to his speeches, and on top of MLK’s plaque. There was also a heavy security
presence around the memorial, particularly mounted national park police.
Just a few hundred meters away is The Wall, otherwise known as the Vietnam War
Memorial. This memorial is much simpler than the Lincoln Memorial, the focus on the lives lost
rather than the pomp and circumstance. The Wall is just that, a wall of black stone with the
names of the American soldiers who died in the war. It isn’t visible from the street and can only
be accessed by foot on a trail. When I walked through it, there was no one on the trail save a few
people looking for a name. I can remember stories from family members who have visited the
memorial and the moments that still affect them to this day. One such moment was one of my
relatives had just started walking along the wall and a man in full Scottish dress played his
bagpipe for hours to honor the man who had saved his life but lost his own in the process. The
purpose of The Wall is clear. It is a place for the living as much as it is for the dead. It has
become something for people to touch to help remember their own loved ones.
As a student of history, monuments are complex things. As the interpretation of history
continuously evolves, the monuments do too, just look at the current debate surrounding Civil
War Statues. Monuments offer us a glimpse into how history used to be interpreted. Both the
Lincoln Memorial and The Wall are icons of Washington DC. The Lincoln Memorial serves as a
reminder of the accomplishments of Lincoln. The Wall serves as a way to honor American
soldiers. Time will tell how the next generation will see these monuments.
