"Ed Rasimus" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 04:17:09 GMT, Guy Alcala
wrote:

Ed Rasimus wrote:

snip

"The sidewalk along the brooding black marble wall slopes gradually,
there are no steps along the way. It's almost a metaphor for the
gradualism that led us to failure. It marks the descent into the
immorality of sending men to die for a cause that the nation wants to
ignore. But when you reach the deepest point, the walk rises again and
gradually, over time returns to the level of the street and the city.
All things pass and maybe this represents a return to normalcy and
patriotism and honor; belief in your country's might and the
principles that the other soaring white monuments of Washington
commemorate. Maybe.

Gee, Ed, you can see what you see, but don't you think that making the
Memorial be accessible to those in wheelchairs (i.e. no stairs),
undoubtedly
including a considerable number of Vietnam vets who wish to visit it,
might
have played a part? I dont remember if the ADA was in effect at the time
of
its design and construction, but things were certainly moving that way.

Guy

ADA was in effect at that time.

I don't think so, Ed. ADA was enacted in 1990, about eight years after the
Memorial was dedicated. ISTR that the Federal government had its own access
guidelines for new construction in place well before ADA, though; as a young
cadet doing a Cadet Troop Leader Training tour with the Corps of Engineers
construction office at Robbins AFB in 1984, I can recall being somewhat
puzzled by the requirement to make a PAVE PAWS radar facility handicap
accessible and were providing handicap parking spots in front of it as well.

Brooks

So, we haven't removed the steps at
the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials. We just dedicated the WW II
Memorial which is white and above ground and has steps in several
places. We look up to the USMC Iwo Jima Flag-Raising statue. We stand
face to face on level ground with the Korean War Memorial.

It's a metaphor I'm using. One of those literary thingies.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8