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Since many of the readers of these theads make reference to their relatives who served in WW2 I strongly suggest visiting the website for the WW2 Memorial in DC at http://www.wwiimemorial.com/

I was there recently and discovered that you can search a database of those who served in WW2. The database shows the name, home town, service, rank, and duties during the war. Those who were KIA are in the system already. Those who served and survived must be entered by family/friends. Photos can be included.

This is a great way to keep their memory alive for the generations that did not get to meet them but are forever in their debt.

Just wondering if the some of you Americans out there care to comment on the memorial?
I've only seen the photos, and dont know much about the area, but I must admit my first thought was eww...tacky. It looks fairly triumphalist to me, not like something built on the bones of 400,000 dead Americans. The contrast to the Vietnam memorial couldn't be greater, and there's a certain irony in considering that the generation being celebrated with the WWII memorial put the names of those 58,000 Americans on the Black Wall in more that one sense. Any thoughts?

It lacks the simple beauty of the Vietnam and Korean memorials but it is impressive.

I see how some people think that the Neo-Classical style makes it look like something that the Nazis or Italians would have built but I don't see this as a problem since this was the style at the time.

The registry gives the memorial a human demension. I look forward to when my son is old enough to understand what it is and I can show him the names of his great-great grandfathers and uncles that served, one of which was captured at Battan and was a POW for 3 years. Thus my family's refusal to buy Japanese products when I was a boy.

Overall I give it a B+. I saw it the same week I went to Gettysburg (Definite A+) so my opinion is slanted by this.

Maybe some of our Non- US members could describe what kinds of memorials they have in their countries. I saw a tomb of the unknown in East Berlin when I was there in '85

ORIGINAL: timtom

Just wondering if the some of you Americans out there care to comment on the memorial?
I've only seen the photos, and dont know much about the area, but I must admit my first thought was eww...tacky. It looks fairly triumphalist to me, not like something built on the bones of 400,000 dead Americans. The contrast to the Vietnam memorial couldn't be greater, and there's a certain irony in considering that the generation being celebrated with the WWII memorial put the names of those 58,000 Americans on the Black Wall in more that one sense. Any thoughts?

It fits in the Washington monuments theme towards a Greco/Roman feel. If you ever visit there you'll see that style everywhere - if you already have you know what I'm talking about.

Is it too grandiose? Too tacky for a war monument? That is probably in the eye of the beholder I would think – I happen to like it. You also have to consider the entire national commitment that took place in WWII as opposed to Vietnam. Any Vietnam memorial would almost demand something understated due to the mixed sentiments for that war and the internal conflict it brought.

the commonwealth grave commission is a good place for british soldiers who died during both world wars!

i found out from that website that i lost 7 relatives in the great war and two in ww2

For our Australian friends, there is two sites

Australian War Memorial: http://www.awm.gov.au/database/roh.asp

Lists all Australian soldiers dead since the 19th century. You can search also by date and see how bloddy were the first months of 1942 for this country

World War Two nominal roll: http://www.ww2roll.gov.au/

Lists all Australian having served during WWII and their fate (died, POW, survived)

And for Dutch, there is the Oorlogsgravenstichting (same thing as the CWGC site for Commonwealth)

Page is http://www.ogs.nl/reroute.asp?query=htt ... ect_id=139

You can only search by names and should spell it exactly. It you type "Boer", all people named Boer of the database will be shown but not the "Boerjon"