September 5, 2004 in Travel

Take time to reflect at nation’s memorials

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This is a season of memorial in America — a time when the nation stops to reflect on the events of Sept. 11, 2001, and how they changed us.

As we commemorate the third anniversary, however, it’s worth a quick pause to reflect on the many non-9/11 memorials that dot the American landscape, and their online equivalents.

The Web site for the World War II Memorial in Washington ( www.wwiimemorial.com/) offers veterans of that conflict a desktop access point to the monument itself and to a registry and “reunion messaging center” designed to reunite vets who have lost touch.

Similarly, but for a different generation’s conflict, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial – known commonly as The Wall – offers a variety of sites, including the official one ( www.nps.gov/vive/home.htm).

More extensive is a private site (thewall-usa.com/) run by veterans of the 4th Battalion 9th Infantry Regiment. It includes a photo gallery and a literary section with musings and sometimes harrowing poems.

An overview of many of Washington’s memorials is available at a National Parks Service site ( www.nps.gov/nama/monuments/ monument.htm) that also outlines hours of operation. Included are the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Washington Monument, the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial.

Civil War memorials are plentiful, and a quick Google search will turn up dozens online. Among the standouts is the site for the African American Civil War Memorial ( www.afroamcivilwar.org/), which includes old prints and photographs.

Finally, the National Fallen Firefighters’ Memorial ( www.usfa.fema.gov/inside-usfa/ ffmem/ffmem.shtm) includes a database of firemen and women who have perished in the line of duty – among them, of course, those who died on Sept. 11.

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