Standing on Capitol Hill

I hadn't originally planned on going by the Capitol. Once I was in DC I decided that I needed to go by it. So, up Capitol Hill I went. It is an amazingly large and powerful looking building. It suites what goes on in it. This building has seen over 200 years of change, growth and expansion for this country. I am in awe of what the walls of this building have seen, heard and been a part of. Below are some facts about the Capitol building along with pictures.

~Congress first met in the Capitol Building on November 17, 1800.

~No one is buried in the Capitol. A tomb area was created for George Washington's body, but Washington's will expressed his wish to be buried at Mount Vernon, and that is where he is buried.

~The U.S. Capitol Dome is made of 8,909,200 pounds of cast iron.

~The dome iron is painted white to look like the rest of the building.

~The Supreme Court held sessions in the Capitol until its own building was completed in 1935.

~The Rotunda, used for inaugurations and distinguished individuals lying in state, is a circular room located on the second floor. It is 96 feet in diameter and rises 180 feet from the floor to the canopy.

~The custom of flying the flags 24 hours a day over the east and west fronts was begun during World War I.

~The top of the U.S. Capitol is 209 feet lower than the Washington Monument.

The Rotunda is modeled after the Pantheon.

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At the base of Capitol Hill is the Ulysses S. Grant statue. He faces toward the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument being in the exact middle of the two, which also serve as the ends of The Mall. The second largest equestrian statue in the US is part of the U. S. Grant Memorial. The sculptor, Henry Merwin Shrady, died two weeks before the memorial dedication of the statue after working on it for 20 years.

On each side of Grant are the Artillery and Cavalry Groups and there are also four bronze lions as part of the memorial.

Although I hadn't planned on going by the Capitol, I am glad I did. Next time I hope to tour it.

March Poem of the Month

"Daffodils"

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:


For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth

Terra Cotta Warriors

The first tickets that I purchased for my trip were for the Terra Cotta Warrior exhibit at the National Geographic Museum. Josh came down to DC after he got off work. After eating dinner we headed to the Museum and got in line. When they opened the door to our timed entrance we joined the thongs of people already in the exhibit. We made our way around and saw lots of artifacts and warriors and read a lot about the very paranoid Qin Shi Huang, the First Emperor of China, who came into power at the age of 13.

In 1974 there was a group of farmers digging a well and accidentaly stumbled upon a pit of buried, life-sized terra cotta figures portrayed as warriors, cavalry, horses, infantrymen, etc. It is approximated that there are 6,000+ figures buried and 1,000 have been unearthed and studied. This terra cotta army was meant to protect Emperor Qin Shihuangdi during the afterlife as he was entombed in the center of this group. It took hundreds of workers 36 years to create all the figures that span 19 miles and numerous pits.

I was amazed at the number of palaces and home the Emperor had built. According to the exhibit literature he built something like 400 palaces and 300 homes and was so paranoid that he was going to be killed that he more disguises and slept in a different place each night.

He also did things to contribute to the society such as creating a widespread road network, built the beginnings of the Great Wall of China, and standardizing the currency. To read more go to this site.

We made our way through the exhibit. No picture taking was allowed, but if you are interested you can look at these pictures. I recommend looking at a few of them at least. Pretty impressive stuff.

When we reached the end of the exhibit we were able to have a photo op with this replica statue.

Josh and warrior

Steph and warriror

"Freedom Is Not Free" ~inscription on Korean War Memorial

M*A*S*H*

Did you know that this popular TV series theme song is titled "Suicide is Painless" and was composed by a 14-year old? His name was Mike Altman and he was the son of Robert Altman who directed the film version of M*A*S*H* which follows 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital. I'd forgotten that this film and television series took part during the Korean Conflict. After reading about and recalling this I kept thinking of this song while I visited the Korean War Memorial today.
It sort of amazed me how eerily quiet this memorial was, it sort of reflected the memorial itself.

The symbolizism behind this and so many of the memorials amazes me.

This memorial was designed by Frank Gaylord and depicts 19 servicemen on patrol. 14 of the figures are from the US Army, 3 from the Marines, 1 from the Navy and 1 from the Air Force. They are dressed in full combat gear and interspersed among strips of granite and juniper bushes, meant to represent the rugged Korean terrain. The reflecting wall, created by Louis Nelson, has images sandblasted into it. When looking at it from the opposite side of the statues it appears that there are 38 soldiers, representing the 38th parallel, the division between the US occupied south Korea and the Soviet occupied north Korea. (Info from this site and this site.)

In war, there are no unwounded soldiers. ~José Narosky

My earliest association, or memory of an association with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) was a bracelet my mother wore. I'm sure she still has it somewhere. It is red, it has a name engraved on it. It is in rememberance of a POW-MIA of the Vietnam War. The name on that bracelet was that of Sergeant Harry B. Coen: He was 30 years young when he died hundreds of thousands of miles away from home, from loved ones, from familiarity. His body still has not been recovered. Here are the stats as taken from http://thewall-usa.com/: SFC-E7-Army-Regular 1st Infantry Division Born on Wednesday, September 22, 1948 From RIVERTON, WY His tour began on May 12, 1968 Casualty was on Oct 10, 1978 In QUANG TIN, SOUTH VIETNAM Hostile, died while missing, GROUND CASUALTY Body was not recovered Panel 58E - Line 32

Did you know that "the Three Servicemen statue is the result of the controversy surrounding Maya Ying Lin's design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Some veterans and their political supporters felt that The Wall was "a black gash of shame" or a "giant tombstone." It was too abstract a design for others who wanted a more heroic, life-like depiction of a soldier." -WMF

Either way, it is a beautiful addition and very complimentary. The statue is of three servicemen dressed in Vietnam era uniforms and are identifiable as Caucasian, African American and Hispanic. To read more see this link.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund was established in 1979 and wanted the veterans from the war to have a "tangible symbol of recognition from the American people." In 1981 the Memorial Fund announced a competition to determine what the memorial would look like. There were 1,421 designs entered and then judged by eight internationally recognized artisists and designers. They had determined that Maya Ying Lin who was a 21-year-old Yale student. What you see in the following pictures is her design come to life. (above info from WMF)

Below is Harry's name. There are symbols that follow each name that denote whether that individual was confirmed dead or remain missing. The diamond symbol seen before his name "denotes a servicemember's death was confirmed. Those whose names are designated by the cross symbol were in missing or prisoner status at the end of the war and remain missing and unaccounted for. In the event a serviceman's remains are returned or he is otherwise accounted for, the diamond symbol is superimposed over the cross." -WMF

Harry's name has a cross after it. He, as so many others, remains missing.

For so many years the effort of women during the war remained unrecognized. In 1984 the Vietnam Women's Memorial Project was founded. The statue that was dedicated was the first memorial to honor women's patriotic service dedicated in the nations capitol and was designed by Glenna Goodacre. A very moving tribute to a group that was so integral to the war effort.

It is said that each of the woman symbolizes something;

~the figure tending the wounded soldier: "charity"

~the figure looking up: "hope"

The figure kneeling: "faith"

Since those earliest memories of a bracelet I have seen the replicated traveling version of The Wall 4 times; twice in Casper, once in Sheridan WY and once in Portland. It is a moving tribute. I can now say I have seen the original Wall and have seen Harry's name engraved in the polished black granite of such an amazing memorial, in addition to the engraved bracelet. It was all the more touching after being so familiar with his name from early in my life.

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go. Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own. And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind."
Major Michael Davis O'Donnell1 January 1970Dak To, VietnamListed as KIA February 7, 1978

"Four score...

...and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."--Abraham Lincoln November 19, 1863 during the Gettysburg Address

Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States and was the first Republican president. He served during the time that the country was divided and is best known for proclaiming slaves of the Confederate states as free people if the state did not return to the Union by January 1, 1863. This later led to the 13th Amendment that makes slavery illegal. President Lincoln was also the first president assassinated.

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After spending time at the WWII Memorial I started walking in the direction of the Lincoln Memorial. It was an amazing thing to see. I, along with so many others have seen pictures of the memorial but you can't really grasp the size and magnitude of it until you see it yourself. Walking to it I could tell that there were lots of people. The steps of the memorial were buzzing with activity.

I am getting lots of practice in of taking pictures of myself with things in the background. Thank goodness for digital cameras and the delete button. :)

The above picture is of the exact spot that Martin Luther King, Jr gave his "I have a dream" speech. It was amazing to look out and see what he saw that day during that now famous speech.

The above picture was what I saw from the spot MLK stood the day of his speech. The picture below is of a history teach showing one of his students a picture of what MLK saw the day he gave that speech. Pretty much amazing.

Lincoln in all of his glory....

Daniel Chester French was the sculptor and the Piccirilli Brothers of New York carved the statue of Lincoln from 28 blocks of Georgia marble. It took a year for the six brothers to complete the work. The memorial is made from several different kinds of rock from all over the country. "The terrace walls and lower steps comprise granite blocks from Massachusetts - the upper steps, outside façade, and columns contain marble blocks from Colorado - the interior walls and columns are Indiana limestone - the floor is pink Tennessee marble - the ceiling tiles are Alabama marble – and the Lincoln statue comprises 28 pieces of Georgia marble." NPS

While I was at the memorial all these body guards came in and were surrounding the two people you see in the center of the below picture. I didn't recognice them, but obviously they were important. I took a few pictures and asked Josh that night who they were. The male is Wale, a DC area rapper. They were there for like 2 seconds and then gone as quickly as they came.

One of Lincoln's most famous speeches carved into the South side of the interior of the chamber.

As I sit at the feet of President Lincoln's statue I recall a reading that our Chaplain at work read:

Years ago there was a PBS special in which Daniel Boorstin, then the Librarian of Congress, brought out a little blue box that contained the contents of Abraham Lincoln’s pockets on the night he was assassinated. In his pocket were two pairs of glasses, a pocket knife, a linen handkerchief (embroidered “A. Lincoln”), a brown billfold containing a $5 Confederate note and nine newspaper clippings.

“The clippings,” said Boorstin, “were concerned with the great deeds of Abraham Lincoln. And one of them actually reports a speech by John Bright which says that Abraham Lincoln is “one of the greatest men of all times.”

Today that’s common knowledge. The world now knows that British statesman John Bright was right in his assessment of Lincoln, but in 1865 millions shared quite a contrary opinion. The President’s critics were fierce and many. His was a lonely agony that reflected the suffering and turmoil of his country ripped to shreds by hatred and a cruel, costly war. There is something touchingly pathetic in the mental picture of this great leader seeking solace and self-assurance from a few old newspaper clippings as he reads them under the flickering flame of a candle all alone in the Oval Office.

The truth is that Abraham Lincoln needed encouragement like anyone else.

--Charles Swindoll