I took this picture in late June of last year, while
on a weekend stop in Pittsburgh. The Southwestern Pennsylvania World War II Memorial, erected in Point State Park – the downtown
confluence of the Steel City’s three rivers—was dedicated in 2013, in recognition
of the region’s significant contribution to the war effort.
Its 16 granite panels recount experiences ranging
from Medal-of-Honor heroism to defense production on the homefront. Further
enhancing the memorial’s educational component—which otherwise, with the passage
of time, would increasingly be lost to popular memory—are eight other text panels
that explain events that shaped the region, led to the war and determined its
conclusion.
The memorial now attracts an estimated 50,000 annual
visitors. But, for those who can’t go there—and even for those who have made it—I
would also recommend visiting the memorial’s Website, which features interviews with five veterans of the conflict—among the area’s dwindling survivors of “The Greatest Generation.”
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