The federal government is giving up on a move to take over the local World War I Memorial on the National Mall and turn it into a national memorial.
The D.C. World War I Memorial commemorates about 500 D.C. citizens who died in that war. The 1930s memorial encircles their names alphabetically without regard to sex or race -- uncommon in that era.
In recent years, the U.S. Park Service restored the memorial to its original glory, but some members of Congress were pressing to convert the memorial to a World War I Memorial for the nation, not just D.C.
D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton -- who fought the nationalization of the city's local memorial -- had good news for D.C. citizens this Veterans Day: The memorial will remain a hometown D.C. monument.
“The D.C. War Memorial, paid for with the blood and treasure of D.C. residents, will remain exclusively dedicated to the District's World War I veterans,” she said.
