Each of the 4,048 stars on the wall represent 100 American military deaths. 16 million served in the US Armed Forces, and many millions more supported the war effort directly. Appropriately, this classical memorial occupies center ground in the National Mall next to the Washington Monument. There were many veterans (of more recent wars) visiting, as well as international visitors and families all admiring the fountains, statues, monuments and inscriptions.

There are many detailed tributes, especially the bas-relief sculptures of both Atlantic and Pacific theaters. In the Atlantic, the memorial illustrates the Lend-Lease program that supported our allies before we entered the war, the military contributions of women, the industrial contributions of women, the code-breakers, the flying fortresses (later protected by the Tuskegee Airmen), the paratroopers, Normandy, Sherman tanks, medics, the Battle of the Bulge where the allies stopped Hitler’s last gasp advance, and meeting the Russians at the Elbe River as the allies stormed into Germany. In the Pacific, the memorial sculptures show Pearl Harbor, the massive enlistment and mobilization for war, battleships, submarines, aircraft carriers, amphibious assaults, jungle warfare, prison camps, and V-J Day.