Ii Memorial

Washington's World War II Memorial won't be dedicated until Memorial Day weekend, but visitors to the nation's capital will be able to explore it starting later this month. With construction ahead of schedule - and hundreds of World War II veterans dying every day - builders of the $107 million monument decided it didn't make sense to keep it off limits to the public any longer than necessary. As contractors rushed yesterday to finish the landscaping, representatives of the American Battle Monuments Commission announced that the construction fences would soon be coming down and the completed memorial will have a "soft opening" by month's end. "This memorial may be a first in Washington," Gen. Paul Xavier "P.X."

WASHINGTON - Thousands arrived on the National Mall this week for the anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech to find a changed landscape from the one King saw in 1963 as he looked out from the Lincoln Memorial. The controversial National World War II Memorial is now taking shape in full view between the spot where King stood on the Lincoln Memorial and the nearby Washington Monument. "It was particularly poignant last weekend when some of us were standing where Dr. King stood, looking out across the Mall and realizing that the symbolic meaning of the Mall, which is the founding of the nation and the seat of democracy in the capital and the restoration of the Union under Lincoln, is now altered by a memorial to a historic event - a war," said Judy Scott Feldman, chairman of the National Coalition to Save Our Mall.

Mail call for U.S. troops serving in Iraq has lost none of its power in being able to connect them to family, lovers and friends back home. While satellite phones and e-mail have helped narrow the communications gap between troops serving abroad and their loved ones, mail call with its prospect of letters and packages remains an emotionally charged break from the routine. "This is the closest thing to going home," a soldier serving with the 7th Infantry Regiment recently told the Associated Press regarding mail call.

Column on war crime defamed the memory of America's veterans Printing "Remember also war's dark side" (Opinion Commentary, May 28) on Memorial Day was in poor taste. Printing the professors' research on rapes committed by our troops in World War II defamed the memories of our fallen brave and our surviving veterans on the very day they should be honored. And the incidents cited, although certainly despicable, were relatively few. They were committed by a tiny number of troops, most of whom were punished.

WASHINGTON -- When it comes to accommodating apple-pie constituencies, Congress demonstrates remarkable speed for a body more famous, or infamous, for foot-dragging. The latest example is its decision to brush aside a duly authorized final review of the plan for a World War II Memorial on the Mall that connects the U.S. Capitol with the Washington and Lincoln Memorials and plunge ahead. President Bush marked Memorial Day by smilingly signing the bill that scraps the scheduled reconsideration of the controversial site and design by the National Capital Planning Commission.

WASHINGTON - In concept, a grand memorial honoring those who served in World War II, the nation's so-called greatest generation, would seem like a natural - an inspiring, patriotic project that few could argue with and many believe is long overdue. But since it was authorized by Congress eight years ago, the World War II memorial has been mired in hearings and legal proceedings, controversy and delays, with opponents objecting to its proposed location in the middle of the National Mall, in the sweeping open space between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument.

THREE HUNDRED RED, white and blue balloons filled the sky over Winfield on Saturday in a "Celebration of Freedom" to mark Veterans Day. At 2 p.m., environmentally safe, helium-filled balloons were launched into the autumn sky from Winfield Fire Department, each balloon representing the memory of a veteran. Similar balloon releases occurred across the country. Sponsored locally by Burrier-Queen Funeral Home of Winfield, the balloon launch was part of an effort by the National Association of Funeral Directors to raise funds to build the National World War II Memorial in Capitol Memorial Plaza, opposite the Lincoln Memorial.

To some, it's a long-overdue tribute to the men and women who fought for the United States during World War II. To others, it's an architectural disaster that will forever mar one of America's most important open spaces, the National Mall in Washington. This Saturday, in honor of Veterans Day, the American Battle Monuments Commission will hold a ceremonial groundbreaking for the $100 million National World War II Memorial, the first national monument dedicated to all who served in the armed forces and merchant marine during the war. The monument's location at the Rainbow Pool, 17th Street between Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue, is controversial because it lies between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial.

WASHINGTON - A memorial to one of history's greatest crusades - World War II - will get its official start Saturday, when President Clinton and other dignitaries turn a few shovels of dirt on a small patch of land between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument. The $100 million marble memorial, two arches connected by low walls wrapped around a pool and fountains, has been 13 years in the making and will honor the 16 million men and women who served during the war, the 406,000 killed and the millions who supported the war from home.

MORE THAN 16 million men and women from the United States served in World War II. Close to 300,000 were killed in battles -- twice as many as died in all other foreign wars in this nation's history. Yet a half-century after the war was won, there's no memorial to the sacrifices made by those defending democracy in the 1940s against fascism and imperialism. Soon there will be, but the site picked and the design of the memorial have generated considerable controversy. Early next month, final approval is expected from the National Capital Planning Commission for a World War II monument at a prominent site between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.