The Korean War Memorial

I know it has been months since I posted about our trip to DC but this post was running around totally unfinished so I decided it was time for a little more DC (the earlier posts are here, here, and here). I did consider posting this while the government was shut down but let's get real I am sure someone would have asked me to take it down since we were not allowed to visit the memorials when it was closed. Anyway, this is not the place for a political ramble this is about honoring our Korean War Vets. 

We were ready for the bus

The morning started very early since we had to ride a bus from the hotel to the pentagon to get screened by some very cute secret service gentlemen. After that we rode another bus over to the Korean War Memorial and once we got into the fenced off area we couldn't leave. By this point I realized that something very exciting was about to happen... I was going to get to see the President!!! Sweet.

When we walked into the ceremony everyone got a bag of goodies which included some snacks, a very odd looking hat, a towel, and a wonderful book about the Korean War put together by South Korea (we might have gotten this after the ceremony but it is in the bag now). My grandfather got a medal for his service which was given to him by members of the American Military.

At this point we took our seats, maybe 50 yards from the podium, and waited for the excitement. There wasn't a whole lot going on at this point, there was a wreath laying by all of the nations that participated in the war, the president, and most of the military groups (including the POW group and the KWVA). 

Eventually the ceremony got started and several people spoke prior to the president getting up to speak. I may not be his biggest fan but it really was an honor to hear him speak to my grandfather and apologize for the governement forgetting about them. So often the Korean War is thought of as the forgotten war because so many people just never wanted to talk about it. The Pres then spoke about our military today and vowed to stand up for them and also vowed that even when our men came home from overseas that we would not be getting rid of all of our weapons like they did after WWII. This was my favorite part of the morning. 

This is zoomed in but on a regular camera... so close

I was honored to hear the president speak. After that part of the ceremony we were able to head back over to the Memorial which had been closed that morning (so that the president could lay a wreath). It was neat to see the memorial in the day and hear my grandfather talk about the different types of people that were displayed. It was so neat to hear him talk about the War and listen to his stories, so often he wouldn't talk about the memories because they were so terrible but it was fun to hear him talk with some of his friends or other men that served. 

The USMC Wreath

This memorial was the whole reason that we were in DC and it was so neat to see what the President had to say and to listen to people honoring the men that served because they were asked to by their country. I loved seeing my grandfather honored for his service to the USA. I will admit that by the end of the ceremony I was melting, this was the hottest day that we had in DC, but I would not have missed this for the world.