Veterans Day is tomorrow and the official observance of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month will bring a whole host of closures and modified schedules. Check out the District’s rundown of Veterans Day events and closures.
Veterans Day is rooted in Armistice Day, which remembers when the guns fell silent on the Western Front during the first World War. In a city that has memorials dedicated to Armenian earthquake victims, Simon Bolivar and Dante Alighieri, DCist is surprised that the Great War doesn’t have a national memorial.
But there are a few WWI-related memorials if you look hard enough.
>> The Army’s Second Division has a memorial at the foot of the Ellipse the symbolizes the protection of Paris from German invaders.
>> Not to be outdone, the memorial to the First Division holds a prominent post near State Place and 17th Street NW outside the Old Executive Office Building.
>> Then the District has its own memorial to soldiers who fought in WWI on Independence Avenue, just west of 17th Street SW. It is often used during the summer by softball leagues as a shelter during rainstorms. It is also listed as one of the most endangered landmarks in the city.
>> And how could we forget about Black Jack Pershing? Pershing is memorialized with his own park, statue and fountain at the corner of Pennsylvania Avenue and 14th Street NW, opposite Freedom Plaza. The park is remembered more recently as the spot where the Metropolitan Police improperly arrested 400 people during IMF/World Bank protests in 2002.
