Driving past the Pentagon last weekend, we saw these three wispy blades of huge metal grass. It the Air Force Memorial, easily missed while driving 60 miles an hour on the highway nearby. Just uphill from the Pentagon, it overlooks the city. I believe it used to be located at the center of the Pentagon itself before being relocated.
The memorial appears to be one of those designed-by-committee memorials, full of text, typical military figures (not well done), and text all over (likely because they could not agree on a single copy set). The design of the three blades of grass is like a broken St. Louis Arch by Earo Saarinnen (which McDonald’s now owns). The flow is like the upward thrust of three Blue Angels, ascending together and splitting off. The underwritten award was sponsored by Boeing and the United Arab Emirates Airforce among others. I’m sure this was easy to fund, but, sadly, not so well crafted unlike the simplicity of the Vietnam Memorial. That said, it was certainly dramatic to stand in the middle of the three upward triangular forms.
