North Dakota

For the centennial celebration of statehood, North Dakota built the All Veterans Memorial. Located just south of The Heritage Center, on the Capitol grounds it commemorates the 4050 citizens who have sacrificed their lives in the states 100 year history. These names are listed on 55 bronze panels. On 15 of these are listed the names of the 199 heroes who were lost in Vietnam.

A unique and amazing feature of this site is that there is opening in the ceiling that allows the sun to shine through. On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of the year, those rays of sun fall upon the large globe in the center of the building. In fact, they fall directly upon the state of North Daklota on that globe. The "state" has been raised and polished, so that it really shines on that day. I have never seen anything quite like this in my travels. I have visited well over 300 sites across the nation and this is a first. Of course, I would have liked to have found a memorial solely to our brothers and sisters lost in 'Nam, but I must say that this one is quite something.

Next, I will cover other memorials in North Dakota. there are not too many, but I was able to locate a couple. More on the 8th, as always, at 9a.m. Remember, any underlined state is posted and you can enlarge any photo by clicking on it.