WWII memorial dedication today

WASHINGTON – Most of their comrades are dead now, making today’s dedication of the National World War II Memorial bittersweet for the tens of thousands of veterans on hand.

Marvin Spencer, who toured the site Friday with his wife, Helen, said the memorial is a lasting tribute to those who served and a history lesson for future generations.

“About all of us are going to be gone in 10 years, but other people will see it and know what we did,” said Spencer, 82, an Army infantryman who suffered a serious injury to his right arm during the decisive battle in Metz, France, in 1944, the so-called “unknown battle” that captured the Nazis’ final fortification on the Moselle River.

The memorial, almost two decades in the making, opened to the public last month.

America’s World War II vets are dying at a rate of 1,056 a day. Only about 4 million remain of the 16 million who served.

President Bush will speak to an expected crowd of 200,000. Sharing the stage will be his World War II veteran father, George H.W. Bush, and former President Bill Clinton as well as former Sen. Bob Dole, a World War II veteran who was instrumental in fund-raising for the memorial.