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WORLD WAR II in the
Pacific took everything we had. It stretched our Navy, Army, Marines, and
Air Forces to distant Asian limits. It forced a new worldview, as it faced
the Japanese military tyrant head on. The Pacific Monument presents the
forces combining in the big picture and also captures an intimate moment.
Set against granite,
repetitive lines fall away in pattern reminiscent of ocean, seamen, and
battles. Remembering the courage of airmen, a P-51 is crashed, its tail
section intact. Through an opening, a lone infantryman offers compassion.
Laser-etched over
the Pacific Monument are photographic scenes we never want to forget
At Pearl Harbor a rescue boat draws close to the burning U.S.S. West
Virginia. At the
Coral Sea the Lexington
slides into the sea. At Midway the Yorktown succumbs
hurt beyond pain . The
tide turns as U. S. Navy divebombers put four Japanese carriers beneath
the sea, during the Battle of Midway, the turning point in the Pacific
War.
At Iwo Jima - with
25,000 casualties - Marines cling to the beach and the flag is raised on
Mt. Suribachi. At Leyte Gulf through Okinawa, kamikaze suicide attacks
proved a final Japanese weapon.
The Pacific Monument can
only glimpse the vast story of that War. We see a soldier boy we know his
duty, relief, and victory. We see him reach his hand in compassion
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