I had a chance to drop by the new World War 2 Memorial in Washington yesterday. It’s open to the public right now and will be formally dedicated in a couple of weeks. First impressions: It’s big and bright, very clean, good fountain effects, a fine place to let your kids run loose. I suspect it looks pretty good at night, all lit up. In this sense it succeeds as a public space. Having said all that, I was disappointed with it overall. It seemed somehow sterile. For a memorial dedicated to a war we won, I expected to see images of soldiers in uniform, tanks, bombers, battleships–the very things that made our victory possible. And yet there was none of this. Names of battles are etched in stone, as well as a few quotes from presidents and generals (and even the popular author Walter Lord), but nothing in the way of powerful visuals to remind us that wars are fought and won by men and machines. Why couldn’t they have parked a Sherman tank in the middle of the memorial? A little more martial vigor, please. When I returned to the luxurious suite of offices that is NR’s DC bureau, I reported all of this to Kate O’Beirne. She made a good point in the form of a question. “So the best World War 2 Memorial is still across the river?” She meant the Marine Corps Memorial, sometimes called the Iwo Jima Memorial, in Arlington. And yes, it’s still the best.