Bicentennial Mall: World War II Memorial

Another interesting feature on the Nashville Bicentennial Mall is the World War II memorial.  According to the park's website:

The World War II Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1997. It features an 18,000 lb. granite globe floating on 1/8 inch of water. The countries on the globe are as they were during the war. There is a small map of Tennessee with lines showing the mileage to different theatres of war. Visitors may stop the globe and turn it with their hands.
The Memorial also has large granite markers that give a brief history of such historic events as the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Bulge, as well as scenes from here in Tennessee by using sand blasting engravings of actual photographs on the markers.

I've always enjoyed studying the history of World War II.  When I heard about the World War II memorial finally being constructed in Washington D.C. I wanted to visit, but I wasn't able to see it until 2011 (and I still haven't seen the National D-Day Memorial).

The stars that you see throughout the area represent the 5,731 Tennesseans who died during the war.

The stone columns were somewhat similar to those in the Centennial Exposition memorial area, but much larger with more detailed photographs etched into the stone.  The signs go back and forth from side to side in chronological order, so I had to take a couple minutes to put all of these pictures into the right order.  If you look at the first two pictures below carefully you can see that the columns below match up with the pictures.

"There is a bench that lists the seven Congressional Medal of Honor winners from Tennessee. A time capsule will be opened on November 11, 2045 and contains lists of donors, persons who served, and a separate list of the 5,731 Tennesseans who served and were killed in combat."

The globe at the end of the area was really interesting.  It is balanced on a cushion of water, so it is possible to push it around, causing it to rotate and changing the way in which it rotates.  I got several pictures, but sadly no video of its motion.  This first shot is actually a reflection from its polished surface.  Note the continental outlines of Antarctica and southern South America.

Amy and I had fun pushing the globe around for a bit.  I tried to get it to be oriented properly but Amy pushed it out of whack shortly thereafter.

As we left I noticed that there was a small, quite appropriate sign along the path into the area.

 ~Matt

PS Here is a shot that I took of the whole area as we were walking back beside the area.