Last updated: October 29, 2020
Place
American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial
Quick Facts
Location:
Washington, DC
Amenities
4 listed
Bicycle - Rental, Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Public Transit, Wheelchair Accessible
Dedicated on October 5, 2014, the Memorial shines a light on the important lessons of courage, sacrifice, tenacity, loyalty and honor by bearing witness to the experiences of war heroes who were disabled as a result of military service. It is the first national memorial dedicated solely to disabled veterans, paying tribute to the hidden and visible disabilities from all conflicts and all branches of service.
Memorial authorized 2000 (114 Stat. 1358), dedicated 2014
Inscriptions
East wall, north side
EACH OF YOU BEARS UPON HIS BODY THE PERMANENT, HONORABLE SCARS OF DANGEROUS SERVICE; SERVICE RENDERED IN ORDER THAT OUR GREAT NATION MIGHT CONTINUE TO LIVE ACCORDING TO THE EXPRESSED WILL OF ITS OWN CITIZENS.
DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER
South wall
BEFORE I CONCLUDE THE SUBJECT OF PUBLIC JUSTICE, I CANNOT OMIT TO MENTION OBLIGATIONS THIS COUNTRY IS UNDER TO THAT MERITORIUS CLASS OF VETERAN NON-COMMISSIONED OFFFICERS AND PRIVATES WHO HAVE BEEN DISCHARGED FOR INABILITY...NOTHING COULD BE A MORE MELANCHOLY AND DISTRESSING SIGHT THAN TO BEHOLD THOSE WHO HAVE SHED THEIR BLOOD OR LOST THEIR LIMBS IN THE SERVICE OF THEIR COUNTRY.
GEORGE WASHINGTON
Quotes on glass panels
The strongest ties between human beings are not cemented in safety, luxury, and comfort. It is the sharing together of the scanty covering, the insufficient shelter, drinking from the same cup, eating from the same plate, the dividing by a hungry soldier with a hungrier comrade the last morsel of meat or the remnant of a cracker; the binding up of each other's wounds, the lending of courage from one heart to another: these are what create the strongest bonds between human beings.
Horace H. Shaw
THE LENDING OF COURAGE FROM ONE HEART TO ANOTHER
I have a purpose in life, and that's been to help other military families through some of what I had to go through. If I had to go through it myself in order to help others, I'm okay with that.
Robert Barrera
I LOVED HIM FOR WHO HE WAS IN HIS HEART
AND HE STILL HAD THAT.
AN I LOVED HIM FOR WHAT HE HAD IN HIS MIND.
AND HE STILL HAD THAT.
My wife means everything to me.
And she's also been my therapy.
They got me to talk about it.
People didn't understand that it is so painful to discuss. As I'm talking to you right now, there are tears running down my face.
Since the war, I've been confined to a wheelchair and have tried to live a good life. However, I relive the war every day.
Dean Winters
I FELT A SPECIAL COMPASSION FOR THESE YOUNG MEN.
I felt a special compassion for these young men with torn-up faces. The wounds one could see were often less severe than the psychological injuries they brought with them. My heart went out to each of them.
Martha Cameron
FAITH THAT MANIFESTS ITSELF IN A FEROCIOUS FDETERMINATION TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP - THE ONE THAT EVERYONE ELSE SAYS IS IMPOSSIBLE.
In the end, what gets people through a physical of emotional crisis is not new technology or medication. Those things can help of course. But it's faith that gives you the strength to endure - faith that won't allow you to give up; faith that manifests itself in a ferocious determination to take the next step - the one that everyone else says is impossible.
Bob Dole
When you're young, you're invincible. You're immortal. I thought I'd come back. Perhaps I wouldn't, there was that thought, too, but I had this feeling that I would come back. Underneath that feeling, these was another, that maybe I wouldn't be quite the same, but I felt I'd make it back.
Michael A. Naranjo
We start by not thinking so much anymore about what you have lost. You must think about what you have left ... and what you can do with it.
Dr. Hampar Kelikian
THERE ARE LIFE-THREATENING INJUSRIES TO CONFRON AND SURMOUNT
LIFE-CHANGING DISABILITIES TO MEET AND MASTER. AND LIFE-SHAPING EXPERIENCES TO MAKE PEACE WITH AND UNDERSTAND
For every tragic story of a life unraveled by military battle, there are a dozen tales of individuals who have managed to triumph over the harrowing experiences of war and ruin.
Jesse Brown
I SHALL RECALL WITH REVERENCE THOSE WHO FOUGHT BESIDE ME AND DIED.
I shall recall with respect those who fought with me and were scarred by bullets, left limbless by bombs.
I shall recall with humility those who were stronger and braver than me.
And I shall recall - with celebration and joy our nation's heritage of selfless sacrifice and commitment to the common good.
Billy E. Kirby
It's not what you've lost that counts, it's what you do with what's left.
Charlie McGonegal
In a way, I'm special, I thought. I'm a member of a unique group. It could be the end of the world for me, or it could be the beginning of a whole new life.
Harold Russell
I DON'T CARE HOW PREPARED YOU ARE
WHEN IT ACTUALLY HAPPENS,
IT'S A DIFFERENT STORY.
Everybody was running around all over the place. Nobody knew what was happening. Nobody knew what to do next.
I felt so alone, watching what was happening. By this point, I knew I'd be hurt, but I just wanted to find someone from my company.
Felecia Weston
How is a life replaced - the companionship, nurturing, love and support of a husband and father.
We were totally unprepared for and were devastated by years of illness.
Joan McCarthy
I AM ALWAYS PROUD OF MY SERVICE
Yes, I wished things would have worked out a little better for me but I did come home alive and had a fairly successful life.
George Robert Sullivan
It's possible for a man to lose half of his physical being and still become whole.
Before I lost my limbs I was only half a man. Now I've developed some humility. I can look at the average person and understand him, where before O looked only at myself.
Theodore Strong, Jr.