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The U.S. National World War II Memorial

The U.S. National World War II Memorial is a National Memorial dedicated to Americans who served in the armed forces and as civilians during World War II. Consisting of 56 pillars and a pair of arches surrounding a plaza and fountain, it is located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on the former site of the Rainbow Pool at the eastern end of the Reflecting Pool, between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument.

It opened to the public on April 29, 2004, and was dedicated by President George W. Bush on May 29, 2004, two days before Memorial Day. The memorial is administered by the National Park Service under its National Mall and Memorial Parks group. As of 2009, more than 4.4 million people visit the memorial each year.^[

Critics such as the National Coalition to Save Our Mall opposed the location of the memorial. A major criticism of the location is that it would interrupt what had been an unbroken view between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The memorial was also criticized for taking up open space that had been historically used for major demonstrations and protests.

Critics were particularly bothered by the expedited approval process, which is normally lengthy. The United States Congress, worried that World War II veterans were dying before an appropriate memorial could be built, passed legislation exempting the National World War II Memorial from further site and design review. Congress also dismissed pending legal challenges to the memorial

Interesting facts about The U.S. National World War II Memorial

It took until 1987 for the idea of World War II memorial to be conceived. It was only when a World War II veteran Roger Durbin approached Representative Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, with a suggestion for such a memorial that people took notice.
Kaptur introduced the World War II Memorial Act to the House of Representatives as HR 3742 on December 10, 1987.
The bill did not pass in 1987 and neither in 1989 or 1991, when it was introduced again.
It was only on March 17, 1993, that the Senate approved the act, after a third re-introduction by Kaptur. The House approved an amended version of the bill on May 4. On May 12, the Senate also approved the amended bill.
The World War II Memorial Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on May 25 of that year, becoming Public Law 103-32.
A total of $197 million was raised of which only 16 million came from federal government. Rest of the money was generated from the people of US and corporate giants.
The selection of the Rainbow Pool site for the memorial was announced on October 5, 1995 by the American Battle Monuments Commission, who supervised all the affairs.
A nationwide design competition was held with over 400 participants for the design of the memorial. Austrian born American, Friedrich St. Florian's design won the competition in 1997, but faced many changes through the reviews that were mandatory.
As per the final design which stands today, there are 56 granite pillars, arranged in a semicircle around a plaza with two 43-foot (13 m) arches on opposite sides.
Each of the 17 feet tall pillars had the name of one of the 48 states in US of 1945 as well as the District of Columbia, the Alaska Territory and Territory of Hawaii, the Commonwealth of the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The arches are named “Pacific “on the south and “Atlantic “on the north.
The monument's plaza is 337 ft, 10 inches long and 240 feet, 2 inches wide. It is sunk 6 feet below grade, and contains a pool that is 246 feet 9 inches by 147 feet 8 inches.
The southern side of the memorial depicts scene from war in bas relief all from the pacific theatre, whereas the north end does the same for the Atlantic theatre.
Candidly, the memorial also includes an engraving typical of the Kilroy graffiti from the WWII times, which says “Kilroy was here".
The Freedom Wall on the west side of the memorial has 4,048 gold stars on it, each representing 100 Americans who died in the war.
The ground breaking for the memorial was done in the same September as the 9/11 attacks.
Interestingly the memorial was dedicated to the public on May 29, 2004, though it was opened to the public a month before that, i.e. on April 29, 2004.