Nevada State Veterans Memorial

Have been slowly working on the window. Getting it all resized and adding the background. 
Stopped though and fixed a couple of dinner. One night curry chicken and rice. Turned out really good. In fact I just ate the leftovers for lunch today.
Also fixed a ham, sweet potatoes and asparagus for Easter dinner. Even used our pretty hand made Mexican dinner plates.  The smallest ham I could find, I think we'll be eating ham for a while. Need to vacuum pack and freeze some. 

This morning we had to go to the hobby shop way across town. One of Bill's RC planes wouldn't fly so he took it to them to fix. On the way home we decided to make a stop near downtown. Some more of the metal work in the center dividers. Don't know why the jeans over the little donkey. 

 Cactus, coyote and a metal frame full of big rocks saguaro. Very pretty. That's what we need for our yard. No maintenance. 

A year an a half ago our youngest grand son who lives here in Vegas marched in the Memorial Day parade. We watched it on TV - mention was made of the not yet open Nevada State Veterans Memorial. It sounded like it would be great to visit. It opened about six months later. And I've been wanting to go there ever since. It is on the corner of Las Vegas Blvd and Washington - if you are ever in Vegas it is a must see.  

 A diagram of the park. There was plenty of parking, free. 

Some information about it. "The centerpiece scene at the 2-acre site stands at the foot of stone terraces with 18 metal-alloy and bronze statues backed by walls of black granite engraved with historic quotes. They represent the nation’s war eras all the way back to the Revolutionary War.
Sculptor Douwe Blumberg, who designed and produced the statues, said he feels “like a marathon runner crossing the tape. … It marks the end of a six-year journey, which was never just another cool, artistic endeavor but from Day One a passion and a labor of love for our veterans.”
“These are the heroes among us who represent something larger than all of us: a way of life, freedom for us to be what we want to be, say what we want to say and worship how we choose to worship.”
I wish the light had been better. It was overcast with a gray glare so not all pictures turned out really good. 

 50,000 Americans were wounded or died in the Revolutionary War. 

Interesting comment by Reagan. 

 750,000 troops casualties in the Civil War. 

4,068 Americans were wounded or died in the Spanish American War.

 

 World War I claimed 320,518 wounded or dead. 

 The war to end all wars -  WWII 1,076,245 dead, wounded or missing. 

 The only statue of a woman, she had a red cross patch on her arm. 

 

128,650 wounded, dead or missing in Korean War. 

Vietnam - 211,454 missing, dead or wounded. Not counting the walking wounded who came home to hate. 

US forces suffered 148 battle-related deaths  with 1 pilot listed as MIA (his remains were found and identified in August 2009). A further 145 Americans died in non-combat accidents

So far 38,614 U. S. causalities - wounded or dead. 

 

 A very sobering experience. So glad we went though. Beautiful in a somber kind of way. So not "Las Vegas."