Forgotten Memorial Earns Spot on Map

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THE D.C. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION has released its new city map, a move that'll likely excite closet cartographers and map geeks like this writer, but isn't likely to light a fire under most District residents. But this edition is special for at least one reason: a long-forgotten monument has finally earned a spot on the map.

Tucked in amid the detailed information about bike, snow emergency and mass transit routes is the D.C. World War I Memorial — a hidden, forgotten and neglected landmark located off Independence Avenue between the Lincoln and World War II memorials.

While there are monuments to other wars, causes and people in the nation's capital, the Great War, fought nine decades ago, has never been recognized with a monument on the National Mall. But the citizens of Washington erected a memorial to salute District residents who died on the Western Front and elsewhere.

The World War II memorial secured its spot on the Mall due in part to a vocal constituency of veterans and families who pushed for funding and real estate. But with the World War I generation all but gone, the D.C. memorial may be all veterans of that war will get. And it's been in a state of disrepair for years.

It's a place this writer likes to visit. And it's nice to see it get a little recognition.

» EARLIER: "D.C.'s Neglected WWI Monument" [Free Ride/Express]

Photo by Michael Grass/Express