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Church Street: Ashton Baptist Church

A Memorial Visit

Last weekend -- the first perfect weekend of the year, by the way -- SonnyeBoy and his Sweety came to visit and to take in the sights. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, did I mention?

Anyway, we shared the National Mall with several demonstrations and protests -- Satuday, there was a demonstration against the war; Sunday, there was a demonstration for immigration reform. We went to the zoo on Saturday afternoon, where there seemed to be a demonstration in favor of strollers for everyone.

Demonstrations aside, we did visit several memorials.

First, we paid a visit to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial at Judiciary Square, which commemorates police officers who have died in the line of duty.

Names

Sadly, SonnyeBoy knew a couple of those officers. 

We also visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a quiet place where families still leave mementos in honor of those brave men and women.

Wall

I found this note particularly poignant.

Note 

Anthony Kercoude is Joe's cousin Tony, who died in action in 1973; now his name lives on the wall.

Tony 

One of the spookiest memorials is the Korean War Veterans Memorial, which is a set of statues of soldiers moving silently through the grass. It really gives me a sense of impending battle, of fear and anticipation.

Korean

We also saw a lot of other memorials -- the majestic World War II Memorial, the Lincoln memorial, the Vietnam Women's Memorial -- and, of course, the Washington Monument.

Postcard

All these memorials reminded me that there are a lot of heroes out there who started out as regular boys and girls who thought it might be a good thing to serve, or who got caught up in the draft, or who maybe just wanted a job. And it's because of them, over all those years, that all those other demonstrations can happen, even the Stroller Power Rally at the zoo.

Valor

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