World War I Memorial At Night

Washington Photo Safari is pleased to offer its first nighttime photo excursion to the recently completed World War I Memorial on Pershing Square in downtown DC.

Inaugurated by President Biden on April 16, 2021, the 1.8 acre memorial was built to commemorate the sacrifice of 4.7 million Americans who served in what was then called “The Great War.”

The National World War I Memorial, finally unveiled in its finished form in mid-September 2024, is a national memorial commemorating the service rendered by members of the United States Armed Forces in World War I. The 2015 National Defense Authorization Act authorized the World War I Centennial Commission to build the memorial in Pershing Park, located at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C.

The park, which has existed since 1981, also contains the John J. Pershing General of the Armies commemorative work. In January 2016, the design commission selected the submission “The Weight of Sacrifice”, by a team consisting of Joseph Weishaar, Sabin Howard, Phoebe Lickwar, and GWWO Architects, as the winning design.

Fully illuminated at night, the memorial consists of a 25-ton bas relief in bronze entitled “A Soldier’s Journey, depicting an American GI’s dramatic story as he leaves home, goes off to war, engages in bloody combat, and then returns home. Dominating the memorial is a statue of General John “Black Jack” Pershing, commander of the U.S. forces in World War I.

The life size bronze statues, beautifully illuminated at night and reflecting the fear, anguish, and anger of young men at war, make for great close-up and detail photography, especially when the images are converted to a monochrome. This is photography that can be done with a camera or a late-model smartphone

Here is a sample of the images you can get on this nighttime safari, led by professional architectural photographer and Washington Photo Safari Director E. David Luria, who shot these images with his cell phone.

World War I Memorial By Night

The memorial design includes a “Peace Fountain” inscribed with a quote from the American poet Archibald MacLeish, who saw action in “the war to end all wars.”
“We leave you our deaths, give them their meaning, give them an end to the war and a true peace, give them a victory that ends war and a peace afterwards, give them their meaning.”

The images you will take demonstrate the emotion of one war veteran who, looking at the Korean War Memorial one night, said: “War is hell, and this is what you look like when you’re in it!”