Meridian Magazine :: Photo Essay : Reunion of the 'Greatest Generation'

Reunion of the 'Greatest Generation'
A Photographic Essay

Part Four

A number of gold-star wives were here this weekend. A gold star was given to a wife who lost her husband in the war and it would be placed in her window where all could see it. 4,000 gold stars adorn the new World War II Memorial (see a picture of the Freedom Wall here ) in remembrance of that practice and the more than 400,000 of our own brave ones who died in World War II.

Some of the vets looked awfully young. Of course, some are young. Some signed up towards the end of the war in 1945 and were 17 when they signed on. That would make them only 76 today!

Some of the veterans tired of my big lens. But I loved their faces so much. I know that every one of them has stories to tell, memories to share, pain to carry.

The “Motor Pool” looked more like a parking lot of an old movie set.

This old vet stared at this old Ford Jeep for some time. He had a granddaughter with him and was telling her stories as he went along.

The trucks were all parked neatly in a row and the men and women wandered among them, felt the steering wheels, kicked the tires a bit, rousted some memories.

I don’t know this woman’s story. Her husband was with her but she too was carrying a load of memories.

I wish I would have had time to talk to each and every one of these heroes. For the most part they love to talk—at least about the good times. And there were good times. Many of these soldiers have kept in touch with lifelong friends from the War.

The bronze Statue of Freedom (by Thomas Crawford) crests the capitol at 288 feet (the Moroni statue on the Washington D.C. Temple also stands 288 feet above the ground). It is the crowning feature of the dome of the United States Capitol. The statue is a classical female figure of Freedom wearing flowing draperies. The bronze statue stands 19 feet 6 inches tall and weighs approximately 15,000 pounds. No other statue in Washington D.C. can be individually taller than the statue of freedom (the statue of Thomas Jefferson is six inches shorter). I looked at the clouds behind this glorious statue and thought how lofty an idea freedom is and how grateful I am that millions have gone before me who have fought for it and preserved it and how hundreds of thousands fight for it today. I am eternally grateful to them all.

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