On the Road Again!

I'm on the road again in search of memorials!  This trip heads northeast and I have an ambitious schedule but some great places I've never been and always wanted to see.  My first location to photograph in enroute was at the Rowher World War II Japanese internment camp in Arkansas.  This is a really remote site and I was moving down this small Arkansas state road when suddenly a small sign indicated I needed to turn down a dirt road that went across an old railroad track berm.  So off I went and drove on a short straight road between two large farm fields.  There was a small copse of trees and blooming crepe myrtles.  The memorial is located in what was the camp's cemetery and there are a  number of graves from the time period including tragically 3 infants.  From this camp were eventually drawn a large number of the men who served in the 442 Regimental Combat Team in WWII -- the most decorated individual unit.  Many of its members gave their lives for their country in an effort to help show Japanese-American patriotism while their families remained locked in the camp.  The internees and survivors erected several markers here to commemorate their service and while these original markers are deteriorating, a new one has been added.  The location is really quite beautiful and eerily quiet.  Unfortunately, few drive so far out of the way to see this touching tribute.

I then moved on into Tennessee and Nashville offered up some interesting sites.  Across from the impressive state capitol building is a veterans plaza and the victory statue for World War I really catches the eye.  The statue is really quite large and in a small plaza by itself and there are very large (10'x10') plaques with huge lists of names of those who gave their lives in WWI.  The veterans plaza also has large memorials to Korea and Vietnam and they too are quite impressive.   The capitol grounds also have a large statue of Sgt. Alvin York, the Tennesse native, who was the most decorated American soldier in World War I - quite impressive for a man who originally sought a conscientious objector status based upon his religious faith. 

I then (well after a little gofl) moved north into Kentucky and the capitol at Frankfort.  Wow -- the capitol is quite gorgeous and easily spotted with its impressive dome.  Out near the State Archives is an extremely toughing Kentucky State Vietnam Veterans Memorial.  When you approach, you can only see a few flags rising from the site and only by walking up to the elevated site you can see that it is a clever and stark sundial in white granite.  The entire memorial is flat and as you walk across it you can view date lines with names under each year and month of the war.  The sundial is mainly composed of a large silver art piece that falls upon etched quotes or proverbs.  The site had a lovely bouquet of flowers near the list of names of those missing in action.  From the site one can look over toward the capitol and feel as if the state is ever watching over those that were lost. 

I'll next post a few of the sites from West Virginina and Pennsylvania.  I will be heading toward a town just made for me...Hershey!  A little break from the work with a stop for golf and some chocolate.   I also have some great historic army sites in my sites -- Carlisle -- home of the Military Institute and Army War College and then  West Point!