King College > Travel Opportunities > Experience D.C.

Learning about American History though its Monuments

Going to Washington D.C was indeed an experience of a life time. Since I have only lived in the United States for a few years, I have only had one class of American History. Along with seeing important new sites and monuments, I learned a great deal of history. I wasn’t aware of how much suffering and pain was caused to bring the country to how it is today. Celebrating these wars is a way of respecting those that fought and died for what we have now.

The D-Day Memorial  is one of the places that really stood out for me. There, I learned about true patriotism from our tour guide, an elderly man who was old enough to remember D-Day. The way he told us the history was moving because you could tell in his eyes that he cared so much for those that passed away for him. He even excused himself when he felt like crying. When he was naming the flags of the participating countries, he mentioned the United States flag as the flag of his pride and joy. Watching and listening to this man was a perfect example of true patriotism.

Another thing that I enjoyed about the D-Day Memorial was the visual effects, such as the statues and bullets in the water. A pool of water  symbolized the beach shores of Normandy. In the water, there were statues of soldiers rushing to the shore to fight for their country. You could see and imagine the strength,  pain, and feelings of the soldiers. The statues showed how much armor the soldiers had to wear. The tour guide said that a lot of the men died by drowning because the armor sunk them. I liked the statue of a soldier that was forging his way through the water with his gun raised above his head. His facial expression showed that he was tired, scared, and determined to get to shore and fight. Another  statue  was of a soldier who had gotten shot the minute he got to land.  I  imagined working hard to get to the shore and then the minute you reach, you get killed. I also began to think how hard it would be if you were forging through the water while watching your fellow soldiers getting shot one by one.

The Germans were posted up on the top of a cliff, firing  their guns toward the Americans. The guide told us that there were so many Germans that every cubic centimeter was covered. The Germans were not visible to the Americans. The museum had a statue of the cliff and three American soldiers climbing it. There was a man at the top of the cliff that was lifting his right leg over the top. He had finally made it to the top. The next statue was of a man that had been shot. This statue was the most amazing statue I have ever seen. The way the man’s face was contorted let me hear his pain as he got shot. His tongue was out as if he tried to yell and scream but had no breath. One of his hands had already let go of the climbing rope and his other hand was holding on with the little strength the man had. You could see that he was about to fall of the cliff to his death. But according to our tour guide, the man survived the fall and is still living today. The third soldier was below the man that had just gotten shot. I put myself in that soldier’s position and I imagined how if I were that man. I imagine a guy being shot right next to you and losing his life so close to the end. I then thought about how it would be almost impossible for me to help the guy. So in a way the third soldier could do nothing but watch the man die. These statues show how strong the soldiers were emotionally and physically.

The next site that we saw that had an impact on me was Arlington Cemetery. It was amazing to see fields of white tombstones. So many men had died fighting for this country. And to think that not all the men that died were buried there blew my mind away. We walked through rows and rows of graves in complete silence. For a brief second,  I remembered the  packed graveyard next to my house in Africa. I then realized that even countries like the United States have suffered greatly.

We watched the wreath-laying ceremony." There were soldiers marching up and down the walkway. They too showed true patriotism. The way they marched showed that they were proud to be serving their country. Their walk and their posture showed the amount of respect they had for the men and women that lost their lives. Also their facial expression was not one that you would see on someone that was bored but of someone that felt important and really cared for their country.

I left Washington D.C. with a new out look on the history of the United States of America. I left with more knowledge of how things were and how they became to be. I now have a feeling of luckiness to be in this country and to be a part of a country with such a rich history. I now think of both my grandfathers and how much importance they are in the history of the United States of America and how celebrating these wars in way is celebrating their services to the war.

Regardless of how just or unjust a war is, people still lose their lives, and lose loved ones so having a day where we remember those people is a sign of respect and gratitude.