Answer Man Soldiers On To Seek Out Army Memorials

When the new Air Force Memorial was dedicated, I read that the Air Force had been "the only military branch not to have its own Washington memorial." I am familiar with the Marine Corps Memorial and the Navy Memorial. However, after considerable research I can find no reference to an Army Memorial. Can you tell us where it is?

-- Howard Koppenhaver, Springfield

I heard that all the services now have memorials in the D.C. area. I was a lowly draftee 38 years ago and figured that I just didn't know about the Army memorial. Is there one?

-- Chuck Shelton, Arlington

Soldier, if the Army had wanted you to know where the U.S. Army memorial is, it would have told you about it!

Sorry, Answer Man couldn't resist. Is there an Army memorial? Yes and no.

Consider this: There are not one but two Army memorials near the White House. One depicts a winged figure of Victory and was dedicated in 1924 at 17th Street and State Place NW. The other is a gilded flaming sword erected on the Ellipse in 1936.

But these monuments memorialize the exploits and soldiers of specific Army divisions -- Victory honors the 1st Division, the sword the 2nd. Neither celebrates the Army as a whole, nor do any of the scores of other monuments at battlefields and Army posts across the country, which honor individual units or divisions.