Celebrating Freedom - A View from the State Capitol Grounds
Before I show you the memorials, though, I'd like to give special thanks to Patricia Robison who was the greeter at the State Capitol Visitor Assistance Desk the day I stopped in. She was a great help. She volunteers lots of hours to keep us informed. Stop by and say hello if you visit.
Washington State Veteran's Monuments
(1) The Winged Victory Monument is in honor of those who served in World War I. The bronze sculpture has a 12-foot-tall figure of the Winged Victory. It's surrounded by a Red Cross nurse, a soldier, a marine and a sailor. Designed by Alonzo Victor Lewis in 1927 it is traditionally where all monument services are focused for all wars.
(2) The Vietnam Veterans Monument is one that gets lots of visitors. I feel our Vietnam veterans did not get properly greeted when they returned from war so I am glad to show it to you, though my photo's not the best. The monument sits on a grassy knoll left of the Winged Victory monument on the capitol campus. A scroll encased in marble on the wall lists names of more than 1,000 Washington State folks who gave their lives in that conflict. Architect Kris Snider of Seattle designed the simicircular wall. Situated on a rolling course, seven foot tall at the apex, with one foot at its lowest point, it is broken by a jagged line in the outline of Vietnam. Folks visit the memorial quite frequently and leave mementos which are then placed in the state archives.
(3) The Medal of Honor Monument, an 11-1/2-foot granite obelisk, honors Washington citizens who have received the highest military decoration, the Congressional Medal of Honor. The Washington State seal adorns the top; honored citizens' names are inscribed below. It's a full scale replica of the national Medal of Honor.
(4) The Korean War Veterans Monument honors those Washington folks who served in the Korean War. Spokane artist Deborah Copenhaver designed and built the bronze sculpture of three soldier's huddled around a campfire. Washington State soldiers numbered 122,000 in that war. The names of 528 killed are engraved on the monument. It's on the east capitol campus.
(5) The World War II monument (on the right) which includes a cluster of five 14-feet-high bronze blades engraved with the names of almost 6,000 Washington residents who lost their lives and a field of cast-bronze wheat with 4,000 individual stalks
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