By Scot Facer Proctor

            I’ve never had more fun celebrating Memorial Day than when Maurine, Michaela and I went down to the National Mall a few afternoons ago and took photographs of the reunion of the veterans of World War II.  What a celebration!  What an uplifting and remarkable experience being around these amazing people.

            I am going to walk you through the experience we had by simply captioning the photographs.  I want you to read the captions then click on the photographs, enlarge them and stare at these faces and places here in Washington.  It moves you. 

            Those of you who are reading this essay from foreign lands—these are the liberators of a generation ago.  These are the ones who bought the freedoms that most of us enjoy in the world today.  They are old men and women now.  They are stooped and bent.  They have hearing aids and wheelchairs.  Some have oxygen.  Many are frail.  But they are living heroes.  They rose up and did their duty and battled evil and overcame tyranny and freed a troubled world.

click photos to enlarge

Their was an air of celebration as we braved the heavy traffic into the District.

One of the first things we saw was a family gathering around their husband, father, brother, uncle and grandfather (all one man) who had served in World War II.

This family took a long time to take their picture.  Their digital camera kept malfunctioning but they all kept smiling.

This great grandfather veteran of war was so happy as he was wheeled about seeing all the places that had been prepared here in Washington to bring him together with friends and buddies.

Eddie McCann was on a small ship numbered simply LST 309/515.  He came to the shores of France on D-Day, June 6, 1944.  His badge reads:  “The most reliable ship the Navy ever had.  We didn’t care who got the credit as long as the job got done.”

I took a photo of this Sergeant in “the Motor Pool” because he was strong and robust and reminded me of how the soldiers looked in World War II.  This young man was learning a great deal from each veteran on this day.

1941 Plymouth Staff Car was sat in by nearly every veteran of World War II that I observed.  They all remembered this model well and many of them had driven one during the War.

This veteran was enjoying seeing all the vehicles that had been gathered here in “the Motor Pool.”

Many of the veterans who gathered here wore hats which specified the ship they had been on or the regiment in which they served.

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