Photo of the Day: World War II Memorial, Washington DC

The debt owed by Americans to the Greatest Generation is enormous. The scope of World War II—a global conflict requiring an all-out effort on the homefront, the service of 16 million members of the U.S. armed forces, and the ultimate sacrifice of more than 400,000 of these Americans—is staggering.

So is the World War II Memorial, designed by the former chief of the Rhode Island School of Design, Friedrich St. Florian, and dedicated in 2004. I visited it nine years later, when I took this photo of its Rainbow Pool with its impressive fountains.

In keeping with this sprawling conflict, this DC site is immense, with 24 bronze bas-relief panels and granite columns telling the story of the Atlantic and Pacific Theaters.

I particularly like this quote inscribed in this stone architecture by President Harry S. Truman, in an address broadcast to the armed forces on Apr. 17, 1945:

“Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.”