Stay out of the memorial
For some stupid reason, those pesky tourists in Washington, DC think that thousands of Americans died so that they can cool their stank-ass hippie feet in the Rainbow Pool at the World War II Memorial. From Fox News;
Beyond the issue of whether the wading is disrespectful, such activity is against National Park Service rules that are posted at several locations around the memorial — which honors the 16 million who served in the U.S. armed forces and the more than 400,000 who died in World War II.
“Honor Your Veterans. No wading. Coins damage fountain,” the signs read.
Park Service official Mike Litterst told Fox 5 TV last week that rangers won’t arrest any of the roughly 4.4 million people who annually visit the WWII memorial who may decide to go into the fountain.
“But we do ask people … to honor the veterans, honor their sacrifice,” he said.
Aside from the respect issue, there is a health issue – ducks crap in the water, and since you’re not the first one to do this, all of the fungi from previous tourists is waiting to attach itself to your skin.
Forrest Gump and Jenny made it look romantic (yeah, I know it was a different pool of water), but you’re not a movie star – you’re just another creepy tourist. If you need to cool off, go back to your $300/night hotel room and take a shower.
Category: Dumbass Bullshit
Ducks crap in it – Eeeeewwwwww!
And that’s not to mention that in warm, non-chlorinated water, brain-eating amoebae thrive, too.
Well, most of these waders should be safe from the amoebas, considering they have nothing for them to feed on.
The hippies have more germs/bugs than the duck $hit.
The dimwits don’t have a brain, so they are in no danger….if it was a “junk” eating amoeba, they would be running for the hills! a little false flag sign might encourage them LOL
Either this is legal, or it is not. If it is legal, don’t call it a “Memorial”, and let the dopes play til they drop. If it is illegal, and is truly a “Memorial” have the park police get off their asses and arrest the miscreants.
I am fed up with molly coddling anyone who wants to be a user of the citizen’s property. When that piece of shit and Medea Bencumming and her Code Stink types were “dancing” at a monument, up to today, there is no excuse for the park police not doing their damned job.
Agreed!
THIS, Jonn! So much this!
I shared this on Facebook a couple of weeks back, and I got some whining fuckstick mewling about how hot it gets in DC, and how they should be able to cool off, and WAAAAH!!!
I seriously considered smacking the shit out of them!
I’m with you. I once tried to be diplomatic and remind people about the appropriateness of that sort of behavior. I was met with befuddled stupid looks most of the time. Park police are useless.
Park police are only useful to hand out speeding tickets on the BW Parkway
Yep!
The cattle just look at you blankly and continue dipping their fungus-covered appendages where they don’t belong.
So they built a large attractive shallow pool for a memorial, and then tell people not to wade in it. Don’t know much about human nature, do they?
Yeah, that’s exactly what I thought when I first saw the story. Hell, the architect even provided seating! There is no coin-tossing permitted either. My guess is that few, if any, of the visitors to the site were motivated by a desire to cool their tootsies. Instead, they visited the Memorial, a site dedicated to their fathers, grandfathers and great grandfathers and, it being quite hot and humid, took a partial dip. I really don’t believe these folks meant disrepect or harm.
Okay, a little googling gave me more info. The issue is not new and it appears that wading in the pool–which I agree should never happen–is to be differentiated from sitting on the steps and cooling one’s dogs. Look at the design and try to tell me that the design doesn’t invite folks to sit where the folks are sitting and do what the folks are doing. It wouldn’t upset me to see live what the pic depicts except the assholes walking around in the pool. I would not remain silent were I to see such a thing. As for prevention, I suggest some nice blue dye.
What I’m going to say is going to be disagreed with, may even make some people angry. I don’t mean to do that, but think about what I’m saying okay?
There is an old cemetery in Old Savannah (GA), where the oaks are huge, old and hung with moss, the grass thick and soft, in amongst the tall granite stones. People walk there, have picnics there, the children play there; my parents courted there. Yes, it is a cemetery, a place of death — but the city’s living citizens have made it a living memorial to those who have gone on, instead of a yard full of dead bones.
Do you see? A memorial joins the living and the dead together. I don’t think those for whom the memorial was built would object to the living enjoying it, LIVING in it, now.
I’m with you Pinto. I encourage anyone commenting on this to go to the memorial. It’s alive! Its a celebration of defeating tyranny and fascism. At the same time, yes it’s a memorial to the cost of war.
It really makes your feel proud and free. It’s not gloomy, it’s open air and you can see Americans acting like Americans! Free, rough, full of life. Not cowed cookie cutter peoples of other nations and cultures.
Go ahead, dip your feet in the refreshing, coolness of freedom, and get an infection like an AMERICAN! (or at least like some guy from Floida) 😉
Do we have any commenters that served in that war that can speak to their feelings?
Kind of agree with you on this one. The design almost screams, walk down the steps and take a dip to cool your feet off. At worst is it s very poor design choice and the park police should enforce the posted signage directions better. Do I agree with people walking around in it, HELL NO. But looking at the picture above, the majority of the people where sitting at the edge and just dipping their feet in. Which again looks to be almost exactly what the designers intended. If they didn’t want people to do this, the design would/should have been way different. i.e. no easy seating around the edge, no steps down into it, some sort of knee high or higher barrier or fence (something difficult or awkward to simply step over).
Again don’t get me wrong I don’t agree with people dipping their feet a memorial fountain (which is what the Rainbow Pool is), but I can see how some could get the impression that the fountain is more of a landscaping water feature vs an integral part of the actual monument.
-Ish
I’ve looked over the picture Jonn posted with this article, and you know what? You’re absolutely right. That picture is a dead ringer for a swimming pool entrance.
I concur with those who call for a 4′ barrier around the pool. Just make it a nice marble barrier – Jersey barriers are for highways, not memorials – and that should be enough.
Found a great article from back on 2015 that does a far better job of explaining some other feelings I have had about the WWII Memorial for a while now. Having lived in the area since 2009 and visiting many times before, when the WWII Memorial was completed I visited it on a few occasions and always wondered why I felt different that I did at either the Korean or Vietnam Memorials. So when this topic came up today I decided do dig a little deeper. As today has gone on the more I think about the below article the more I have to agree with it. Where the Vietnam and Korean memorials ooze quite reflection and solemness, the WWII memorial is grand and more a celebration of Victory. It might also stem from our thinking and feelings we as a society have about these three wars. We won WWII, where as the others ended in draws or losses. Before anyone rushes to judgement, think about how the country as a whole acted/treated the returning vet from the war. WWII has ticker tape parades, celebrations, parties, etc. The other two, not even close.
Still not saying people should wade in it. But given the obvious re-design of the Rainbow Pool (originally designed and built around 1919 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Pool), I think I’m okay with people sitting at the edge and dipping their toes in. Not that I ever will but I’m strangely okay with it.
I also temper this with the fact that people have been wading in the ancient fountains of Europe for centuries.
http://greatergreaterwashington.org/post/27495/go-ahead-wade-in-the-memorial/
Turn off the water (pool) during extremely warm/hot seasons. Turn on the water (pool) during extremely cool/ cold season.
So…we have an empty Memorial Pool in summer and a Memorial Ice Cube in winter, right?
No offense – sincerely! – but this is coming dangerously close to ‘smooth move, exlax’ territory.
Just an idea, Semper Idem, since some folks choose to disregard the National Park Service rules posted around the Memorial and the rules don’t seem to be enforced.
Thanks for the feedback (sincerity, no sarcasm).??
Meh, leaving the water stagnant during the summer would turn it into one smelly mosquito-breeding pool of algae at best.
Better yet, electrify the pool. Would stop the critters and humans in a hurry.
Turn off the water (pool) during extremely warm/hot seasons. Turn on the water (pool) during extremely cool/cold seasons.
Line the bottom with randomly placed lego blocks glued in place. That should deter some of them.
Best idea ever… make it clear ones too so that they blend in.
Piranha.
Gators. The slow stupid ones would go first, and it would help cull the herd…
Given the amount of History taught in publik shcoolz and kolledjes today, if one was to ask the twentysomethings and millenials who the Memorial is to they’d likely say something like “DUDE, ain’t that where Rambo like, invented napalm and kicked some ugly dudes’ asses? Nice pool,”.
I hope they catch something fatal. Clean the gene pool (pun intended).
Lather, rinse, repeat.
I was there the week it opened and I was there to pay my respects to President Reagan. The WWII Memorial was my last stop for the day. It was nearly dusk. And some little shit punk actually threw a butt in the pool. Needless to say, I went COW…opened up my can of whoop ass.
I told the young man that he was not showing respect to 400,000 Americans who gave their lives and he better get that butt outta “my” pool because I wasn’t a fan of such blatant disrespect. He was dumbfounded and had no words. His friends rolled their eyes at me. At 40, I could still do the 19YO PT standards and I woulda gotten physical if he refused. Lucky for him, he fetched it. #NOFeeteither
I live near DC and have been to all the memorials more than a few times. It always struck me as interesting the contrast between the Vietnam, Korean and the WWII Memorials. The Wall and the Korean memorials always had this somber, hushed feeling. While the WWII memorial seemed alive and vibrant.
Last year I helped out with an Honor flight of WWII veterans (Right before the Million Vet March). I ended up speaking quite a bit with a guy who fought in France and Germany. He was very nice and humble about his contributions to the war. I pointed out the differences I saw in the memorials and asked if all the laughing, kids running around, people in the water and the general light heartedness of it bothered him at all. He said, “Hell no. This is what the war was fought for. So people could be happy and free.” So we kicked off our shoes and dangled our feet in the water for a bit. 😉
Dihydrogen monoxide signs. Worked in a city I lived in to keep the actual homeless, those that could read, out of fountains.
HA HA HA! Love it.
Bwwwahahahaha. I recently attended a graduation ceremony at a college. I couldn’t resist, (well, I could, but didn’t), saying to a graduate, who was drinking: “There’s Dihydrogen Monoxide in that fountain.” He spit his water out into the drain sump, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and said: “Thanks man.”.
He was a Nursing Graduate.
Does the city have a name clong or are you up to your old tricks again, just making stuff up and asserting it as fact?
Yeah, I thought so. Id assholism ever pays, clong, you will be an overnight millionaire.
Cav, there was a town in Orange County, CA that was going to ban foam cups because DHMO was used to make them.
IIRC, it was Aliso Viejo.
SEA. Oh, I have no doubt and I know that a few years ago the DM thing was all the rage in certain parts of the country, but clong’s statement was quite specific. There is a city in which literate homeless were kept from using fountains there by DM warning signs being placed on them. Clong makes shit up and no one is to challenge him/her and he/she never gives cites or authorities. We are to trust him/her and only a fool would do so.
Next up:
And my politically incorrect statement of the day is…I have visited Gettysburg and Antietam many times. I have visited DC war (and other) memorials many times. I have visited Arlington many times. When I see a nonwhite face at any of these places, I am always surprised. What’s up with that?
If they would just change the signs from “Honor Your Veterans. No wading. Coins damage fountain” to “Untreated water. No filter. Ducks shit in this fountain”, they might get some people to stop.
They even have toilets! Oh, the horror! People crapping in the WWII(and the Jefferson and Lincoln) memorial!
Lighten up, folks. As long as they don’t pee in the pool there is no disrespect.
Haha. As long as no disrespect is intended it’s certainly not worth getting into a fight over but I would say it’s worth enforcing the rules a little more.
” Rainbow Pool and Waterworks
The historic waterworks of the Rainbow Pool are completely restored and contribute to the celebratory nature of the memorial. The design provides seating along the pool circumference for visitors. ”
https://www.wwiimemorial.com/archives/factsheets/memorialdesign.htm
“The pool was renamed the Rainbow Pool on October 15, 1924 after it was noticed that its 124 nozzles created a “perfect rainbow” when turned on.[2]
In 2001 it was integrated into the National World War II Memoria ”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Pool
As Fox News pointed out in the article Jonn posted, there are signs posted in front of the Rainbow Pool “Honor Your Veterans. No Wading. Coins Damage Fountain.”
This article was posted about a year ago and shows a picture of a young boy sitting in front of that sign taking pictures of what appears to be an adult woman smiling for the camera:
http://999ktdy.com/visitors-disrespect-wwii-memorial-in-washington-dc-by-wading-in-reflecting-pool/
Hopefully, that was not his parent, an older sibling, a relative, a teacher, anyone who is supposed to be a mentor, posing for the camera. IMHO, this is not a good example to set for a young person on learning how to obey rules.
Please, someone correct me if I am wrong, but I thought dangling one’s feet while sitting on the steps and wading in the pool are two different things (even the sign shows a person standing in water).
The first line in the sign speaks for itself. It is called respect. Respect for those men and woman who served our country during WWII. That is why it is called a Memorial.
I’m with Jonn. If you are that hot, please return to your home, hotel room or anywhere else to cool off after your visit.
I can see that. I didn’t really think of it that way. There seems there might be a difference (Subject obviously to the opinions of each person) Between sitting with your feet in the water and going full bore Jacques Cousteau in the pool.
Thanks Pat.
A 220v extension cord would keep them out….
Ha! Like squirrels!
Caltrops in the bottom will solve this.
I think that it’s still thing that it’s wrong!
Is there even ONE sane person on this web site that does not realize when the average Joe Six Pack is allowed to dip his feet into this pool that MANY others will see it as an OPPORTUNITY to actually sit in the water and take a leak? My suggestion would be to load the pool with some chemical that not only causes you to instantly HAVE to take a crap; and worse yet, turns your Johnson neon red with sores all over it which won’t go away for a minimum nine months.
There’s a swimming pool additive called “Wee Alert” that’s non-toxic and reacts with human urine by turning red. There’s one thing they can do as well as putting tin pyramid-like spikes on the bottom to make wading in there extremely uncomfortable. It’s what many municipalities already do in places to keep vagrants from using them as crash pads.
Alligators.
and land mines
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