World War II veterans knock down police barriers to attend memorial on the National Mall

twitchy.com...


The title says it all.

This actually makes me feel quite emotional at the moment. These men deserve to be there more so than anyone else.

I really hope, the "park police" just stand to the side silently and do nothing. This costs nobody anything right now, but cost heavily in the past. Let them be.

Looks like they're having a nice time there as they should.

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


The link says police are on the way. Knowing what that could entail, I feel a little uncomfortable for them. Hope all ends well.

S it appears a number of politicians have shown up to the grounds and walked in with the veterans. The park police are allowing them in even though the park was closed and had barricades erected.

It is a wonderful thing what determined groups of people can accomplish.

That'll show the Government to try and tell the Vets of World War II, they can't visit their own monument in the open air. There isn't even a "facility" to require staffing ...and park police are obviously there for general order and security already. How handy... So, leave it openly closed with access or however wacky way they want to put it.

The old guys earned the right to be there, no matter the politics of the day, IMO.

politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com...

According to CNN, they're being let in now. I think it's ridiculous that they were prevented from entering in the first place. WWII vets are getting very, very old and it should've been plainly obvious who they were. The bloke who made the decision at that particular memorial should help with the budget by letting themselves go from their job.

Salute





No response needed. Let them be. Let them lead.

since the park police are still on the job, why did they have to close it in the first place?
Why would a government shut down prevent any of the memorials from being open to the public?
The park police are still working and aren`t they the only ones who usually work at these memorials. exactly who got furloughed that would prevent these memorials from being open?

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


They moved the barrier's aside.

There was no "knockdown", just sensationalism to grab headlines is all.

To be clear, I'm on the vet's side, but let's not overdo things with terms like "storming the memorial" and Knockdown of barriers".



Edited to add further info- It appears no vets moved any barriers according to reporter on scene. "Staffers" moved the barriers aside to let the vet's have access.

And there's more...

At the Korean War Memorial, a group of veterans from Puerto Rico also moved barricades aside in order to lay a wreath. The veterans represented members of the 65th Army regiment, which fought in Korea.

Anthony Mele, president of the regiment’s honor task force, said a Park Police officer admonished the group that the site was closed and then “literally turned his face and walked away” as the men moved the barriers in order to enter.

“We went on the other side of the barriers like good soldiers should, and we laid our wreath there,” Mele said with a smile. “We were told that all permits were rescinded. I thought they said all permits were canceled except ours.”

Thomas Lopez, 84, said he was honored to be able to visit the memorial and remember fellow members of the 65th regiment.

“This is a shame to me,” he said of the bypassed barricades. “We’re part of this country, and we fought for this country, and it doesn’t seem necessary.”

Washi ngton Post

Awesome! That's the kind of headline I love to see.

Had a bunch of WWII combat vets in my family, knew them well. They were kids introduced to life during an extreme economic depression, and then were asked to fight in one of history's most brutal wars. Definitely a very tough breed, gotta respect this patriotic crew.

They better leave these guys alone.

When the Nation ask them to serve....they gave all.

All my respect to these men.

Maybe all verterans should show up to show solidarty.

National Park Service security personnel speak on their phones after World War II veterans broke through a barricade with police tape that prevented access to the World War II Memorial on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 2013.
CARLOS BONGIOANNI/STARS AND STRIPES

World War veterans on an October 1, 2013 Honor Flight from Mississippi were confronted with barricades at the National World War II Memorial, which was closed due to the government shutdown.
LEO SHANE III/STARS AND STRIPES

WWII veterans storm D.C. memorial closed by government shutdown

WASHINGTON — Wheelchair-bound elderly veterans pushed aside barricades to tour the World War II Memorial Tuesday morning, in defiance of the government shutdown which closed all of the memorials in the nation’s capital.

The four bus loads of veterans — visiting from Mississippi as part of a once-in-a-lifetime Honor Flight tour — ignored National Park Police instructions not to enter the site as lawmakers and tourists cheered them on.

“We didn’t come this far not to get in,” one veteran proclaimed.

The scene was both emotional and comical at once. After it was clear they had lost control of the situation, Park Police officials stood aside, telling press that they had “asked for guidance on how to respond” to the breach of security.

As 80-something veterans slowly walked around the massive war memorial, Park Police stood quietly to the side, advising other tourists that the site was technically still closed. But they made no moves to stop the wishes of the war heroes.

Link to full story by Leo Shane III Stars and Stripes

Great coverage by Mr. Shane! So proud of our veterans. They are America and the memorials belong to them. They paid for them long ago.

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


Amen.

They've, and their brethren who didn't come home, earned the right.

reply to post by TwiTcHomatic


It seems there was absolutely no reason at all to try and shut this down, only an opportunity to make it look like the oppositions fault, point scoring basically, us people (humans) are not even an after thought

This is awesome, glad to see our dysfunctional government is not negatively affecting our greatest generation. These people went through too much, have a great uncle that survived the sinking of the USS Lexington.

He has screamed through MANY nights since then yelling of oceans of blood, swimming through body parts and about close friends lost.

People were affected not just during the war but for the rest of their lives with the sacrifices they made to stop probably the most evil and insane man throughout history. Glad to see they are allowed to still honor their fallen comrades.

This isn't a commie protest, no defacating or vandalism, etc like your typical socialist funded Occupy, no these are the real one percenters through years of attrition, real americans so move along nothing to see here except patriotism at its finest.

Cant look at a monument? Can't view a big ass hole in the ground (grand canyon). Did they cover Mt. Rushmore with a giant tarp? I noticed the Library of Congress site is down so I guess their domains magically expired Oct 1st?.

These things exist. It's taking more work and time to make them unavailable since they're already available.

These morons in the gov cant even get a shutdown done right.