When Aaron and I got to DC it was evening so we pretty much sat in traffic to get back to the hotel, unloaded our stuff and went to dinner.
Thursday I had a lunch date with my client, Carol. I drove up to Gaithersburg and met with a couple workmates at the gym just to say hello before lunch. It was SO nice to see them! It was like old times...sometimes I'm excited for things to be the same and sometimes I'm sad that they are the same. Things were the same and it was nice. Then we walked past the pond toward lunch and Aaron found some geese to look at.
Lunch was good and then we went back to the hotel so Aaron could get a nap, a short one before we had to get the guys from the hospital.
The next day Aaron and I were going to the mall (not the shopping mall, the National Mall) and Chuck was going to meet us around lunch. This is Aaron's first Metro ride, sorry it's not a very good picture.
I'll also provide a mall map so you can see where all we went:
We got out just behind the captial because that was our first stop. It had to be systematic because there's just so much to see and when Chuck got down there we were headed to Arlington. This is a pretty fountain right outside. They have a new visitor center that makes it easier to tour the capital but we didn't go in, we just had too much on our docket.
This is the east side of the capital.
And the west side. The capital is the dividing point between NE, NW, SE, and SW. The door that the president always comes out to take the oath is on the left side of the picture, sort of behind the second plant from the left.
This is Union Station. I never went here very often but Aaron and I had to take a trip there for some coffee. It's very pretty inside and unlike STL, this Union Station is used for trains still.
This is right outside Union Station.
This is the west side again. It's very pretty grounds.
Aaron found some ducks this time.
This is Aaron playing on the mall near the Washington Monument. We were waiting for Daddy to get down there so we could move on. Between the mall and Arlington, there really aren't any Metro stops that are convenient.
This is taken between the WWII memorial and the reflecting pool.
This is the Vietnam memorial.
Lincoln memorial.
Then we saw a police man on a horse. We actually saw lots of these, they were so big!!
Lincoln from the side.
This is Arlington.
I thought this was cool, the first woman naval aviator!
This is Chuck's great-grandfather's gravesite. He served in WWII and was in a prison camp (anyone ever see "The Great Raid"?), escaped, was caught and was tortured. Maybe Mary will post a comment summarizing what happened.
This was his wife.
Changing of the guard at the tomb of the unknown soldier.
Every hour the change happens and there is a soldier that comes to relieve the soldier of this orders and replaces his with another soldier. Before the new soldier takes over, the one in charge checks over his gun and his uniform.
My men.
Some people at the site of someone they knew.
This was an old sailor that could still fit in his uniform! We were at Kennedy's grave site, he's buried there with Jackie, and two of their children that died VERY young.
This is at the Korean war memorial.
We found more ducks at the reflecting pool.
My guys again.
The white house. This is the north lawn, you couldn't get close to the south law which is much prettier.
I think that's enough for now. More later!
2 comments:
Well, Dawn mentioned that I might comment on my grandfather (buried in Arlington). Yes!
Of course, I never met him since he was killed in WWII, but my parents always made sure we knew of him and his sacrifice for our nation. Lt. Col. Lloyd Biggs was a career Army officer. He had fought in the Mexican War against Pancho Villa and was one of the last members of the U.S. Calvary. He received a law degree while serving in the army, and served at multiple locations and bases here in the United States before being sent to the Philippines at the start of WWII. He was stationed at Corregidor and was joined by his family (and my mother, his daughter)until the war got dire, and the invasion of the Japanese became imminent. The families of the officers were then sent home to the States.
When Corregidor fell to the Japanese, he was sent to Cabanatuan POW camp. Here he endured unspeakable hardships, disease, and famine. He and another soldier were somehow able to escape. They were given up when his companion coughed or sneezed, and they were spotted hiding in some undergrowth.
They were taken back to Cabanatuan, and made "an example of." The two of them and another soldier (unknown reason to me), were strung up in the commons area of the compound with their hands tied behind their backs. The Japanese actually called in Jujitsu
(sp?) experts who kicked them until all their bones were broken. They were left hanging like this for about three days while other Japanese guards were encouraged to kick, beat or spit on them. They died in a matter of days, and my grandfather, being a Lieutenant Colonel, was beheaded as an extra "example."
An account along of this along with an artist's depiction of the event can be found in the Feb. 7, 1944 edition of Life Magazine. Also, take time to view the movie, "The Great Raid" (as Dawn mentioned earlier). Unfortunately, my grandfather died before the raid.
Mom's(Chuck's grandmother)first husband was also killed after taken prisoner in the Philippines around the same time. Mom and Captain Herman Hauck had met while she was living with her dad in the Philippines. They been married for barely two weeks, when she was sent home to the States with all the families. Herman was Captain of Battery Crockett at Corregidor, and his battery received the worst pounding of any. They were sent to join up with the 4th battalion of the Marines in hand to hand combat as the Japanese came onto the island with their tanks.
Capt. Hauck was able to escape with a few others and hide for almost a month's time. When captured, they were bound hands and feet together and tied to a bamboo pole trussed up like a pig and carried to Cabanatuan prison. Later he and 1700 other US POWs were put on a Japanese ship bound for hard labor work camps in Japan when an American submarine torpedoed the ship -- thinking it was a supply ship. All but a handful perished.
My mom sacrificed much in the deaths of both her husband and father in the war. Indeed, should we all remember that FREEDOM IS NOT FREE!!
Have you thanked a serviceman/woman lately? Have you prayed for them? Your country? Thank you, Chuck!!!
Dawn-
You have some amazing photos here!! Of course, I am not surprised. Thanks to Mary for sharing the story of Chuck's great grandfather.
We missed you while you were gone. Look forward to seeing you soon.
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