Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.

At the World War II Memorial today, veterans of that war from Missouri were greeted by a gaggle of well-wishers, politicians and press.

A day after a group of veterans on an “honor flight” from Iowa “stormed” the Memorial, ignoring the federal government shutdown and the barricades erected to keep visitors out, the event took on new meaning – and not necessarily in a good way.

Of the many Representatives and Senators gathered to greet the veterans, the most well-known (and controversial) had to be Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). Bachmann greeted the veterans by thanking them for their service and introducing herself as “a member of Congress in Washington.” At one point, a veteran yelled “Sarah!” as Bachmann approached him. She kindly explained that she is not, in fact, Sarah Palin.

Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.

Also on the scene was Carol Johnson, the spokeswoman for the National Park Service who was called back from furlough to handle the situation. She directed reporters on the scene to a statement she tweeted about the situation: “The Honor Flights are being granted access to the WWII Memorial to conduct 1st Amendment actives in accordance with NPS regulations.”

As Johnson tweeted the statement, a woman with the honor flight approached her and thanked her for letting the veterans in. Johnson, who told the woman her father is a WWII veteran, said she didn’t quite know what to say.

As the veterans walked around the Memorial, mingling with members of the press wielding cameras and politicians (including Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a person near the entrance shouted “Shame on Congress! Go back to Capitol Hill!” Others shouted back that this moment was about the veterans, not politicians.

“We’ve got some people playing politics here,” McCaskill told the Huffington Post’s Ryan J. Reilly.

But amidst the hoopla were the veterans from Franklin County, smiling and enjoying the Memorial. As the group gathered for a photo, a younger veteran standing above them began singing “Amazing Grace.”

Photo by Sarah Anne Hughes.