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Opinion May 15, 2008
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Visit our nation's Capital: it's worth the trip
Public Commentary
By John H. Meyer

Visiting our nation's capital during the Cherry Blossom Festival is hectic. Thousands of tourists from around the world come to see Japan's gift of 3,000 cherry trees to the United States in full bloom. Many of the visitors are surprised to find out that there are two varieties, two different colors of pink, and that the first 1,000 trees that were shipped to the United States were diseased and had to be destroyed.

At the same time in the spring the Washington Capitol District's other flowers are in full bloom that include multicolored pansies, tulips, daffodils and tulip trees. The city center is extremely clean, the traffic moves well and there are many interesting city tours that can be purchased at Union Station, one of this county's largest and busiest railroad stations, that also houses a multi-level parking garage.

Not only are the Federal buildings, museums and the monuments memorializing our fallen heroes in the armed forces interesting, so are our past presidents monuments, the White House and the Capitol Building. A trip to the National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, where the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier has an honor guard 24 hours a day is worth the extra time. Watching the changing of the guard ceremony is breathtaking. With huge crowd in attendance you could hear a pin drop. Lunch or dinner in the Historic Gabsey Tavern where George Washington held formal balls and dinner meetings before he became our first President, tops off a great day in Virginia.

In the shadows of the Washington Monument is the Korean War Memorial, with life-size statues of soldiers, each one in a different combat positions cast with weapons, ponchos and helmets portraying the appearance of a live battlefield.

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 at 3:30 a.m. (Korean time) on a Sunday and ended three years and one month later. Fifty-four thousand Americans died in the war, in addition to one million Chinese and perhaps 3.5 million Koreans. Despite this bloody record, the Korean War is sometimes referred to as America's forgotten war.

Locally a Korean War Memorial is located at the corners of Lakeshore Drive and Mayflower Avenue in Massapequa Park and in the Plaza at Eisenhower Park.
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