YSEALI PFP Day 38: Memorial Day

27 May 2019

It was Memorial Day, a holiday where Americans remember and honour soldiers killed or MIA while serving in the US Armed Forces. Memorial Day is observed on the last Monday of May each year.

The plan for the day was:

1. Guided tour at State Capitol
2. Visit Library of Congress
3. Visit National Gallery of Art
4. Shopping
5. Dinner with ACYPL YSEALI Professional Fellows

Secret Service Police providing additional security on Memorial Day

White House

Treasury Department

Alexander Hamilton Place, first Secretary of the Treasury 

John J. Pershing - General of the Armies

Freedom Plaza

Floorplan of White House

Trump Tower

FBI Building

Archives of the USA

United States Navy Memorial

"Any man who may be asked what he did to make his life worthwhile can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction I served in the United States Navy." -- President John F. Kennedy, 1963

Various historical incidents and vocations were depicted in bronze sculptures:

Engineering Duty Officers - Sharpening the Point of the Spear

Women in the Navy - On Shore, in the Air, and at Sea

 The Great White Fleet - Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick

Navy Astronauts and Recovery Missions - A Contribution to the US Space Age 

US Marine Corps - Amphibious Assault - Inchon - 1950

US Coast Guard - Semper Paratus - "Always Ready"

 Exploration, Oceanography, Research - Navy Lieutenant Charles Wilkes in Antarctic - 1840 

US Merchant Marine - US Navy Armed Guard - "We Deliver"

US Naval Academy - Anapolis - "From Knowledge, Sea Power"

Destroyer Escorts - "Trim but Deadly"

Opening Japan for Commerce - Commodore Matthew Perry - 1854

Captain John Paul Jones - "... in Harm's Way"

Landing Ship Tanks - Fondly known as Large Slow Targets

US Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal - "Initial Success or Total Failure"

Naval Construction Batallions - "Seabees can do it"

The Navy Family - "They Who Wait Also Serve"

US Navy Supply Corps "Service to the Fleet"

Navy Chaplains - "Eternal Father Strong to Save"

Admiral David Farragut - Mobile Bay - 1864 - "Damn the Torpedoes - Full Speed Ahead"

Naval Aviation - First Shipboard Takeover

Inland Naval Engagements - US Navy River Operations - Vietnam

The Silent Service "Clean Sweep" - WWII Submarine Patrol Returns

Naval Airships - "They were Dependable"

Navy Medicine - "Standing by to Assist"

Naval Reservists - "Twice a Citizen"

Naval Special Warfare - US Navy Seals - "Failure is not an option"

Grand Army of the Republic Memorial

Newseum

A daily display of front pages of major newspapers across the US

And that's why a union's strength is also measured by how it can get things done on the negotiation table

George Gordon Meade Memorial - he commanded the Union troops at Gettysburg, where Lincoln delivered an impassionate "Four Score and Seven Years ago..." speech

And we reached the State Capitol, which looks amazing regardless of which angle you approach it.

Did you notice the statue right at the top of the dome? We'll come to that later

Each State gifts two statues which would be displayed at the State Capitol. States are free to decide who they want to feature, but the individual must have already passed on. The statues are made of either bronze or marble. A total of 100 statues are placed throughout the State Capitol building, including the Capitol Visitor Center.

Ready for the guided tour, which is the only way to get into certain parts of the State Capitol

Before we were divided into groups, we watched a video on the US State Capitol, and the meaning behind "E Pluribus Unum", which translates into "Out of many, One." The US State Capitol is also known as "the people's house".

Each line was a tour group, led by a guide, which communicates with us through our headsets

First, we headed to the Capitol Crypt. The Capitol Crypt was built for the first US President George Washington, but it was not used, as his wishes were to be buried in his home state.

Capitol Crypt

The statues in the Capitol Crypt represented the original thirteen states

Georgia - Crawford W. Long, who pioneered the use of ether as an anaesthetic in surgery

Virginia - Robert E. Lee, commander of the Confederate troops during Civil War

Rhode Island - Nathanael Green, aide to George Washington

New York - Robert R. Livingston, a member of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence

New Jersey - Richard Stockton - signed Declaration of Independence

New Hampshire - John Stark, revolutionary war general

Delaware - Caesar Rodney, who signed Declaration of Independence

This is the exact middle of Washington DC

Next, we proceeded to the Capitol Rotunda, which displayed original paintings from the 1800s on its walls.

Our guide standing in front of a drawing of the "Landing of Columbus"

A view upward from the rotunda

The 3D drawing at the bottom of the dome was completed in 1953

Drawing on the right: Surrender of British troops

Drawing on the right depicts Pocahontas being baptised under the name Rebecca

Drawing on the left: Final surrender of British troops

Drawing on the right: Resignation of George Washington as Commander-in-Chief

Discovery of the Mississippi

The Statue of Liberty would be able to fit in the Rotunda without hitting the ceiling

Liberty and Victory and the 13 colonies with George Washington in Heaven

Pilgrims giving corn to Indians

Declaration of Independence - this drawing can be found on USD 2 dollar notes

George Washington

Thomas Jefferson

The office of the Speaker of the House

And then, we entered the Statutory Hall, which used to be the House Chamber.

This is where lying in state ceremonies are held

Lying in State ceremonies are reserved for US Presidents and members of Government. Lying in Honour ceremonies had been held for respectable individuals such as Billy Graham and Rosa Parks.

Our guide was explicit in describing the state of the crowded Chamber back in those days. With a high ceiling, there were echoes from conversations and speeches. The floor was carpeted and stained with tobacco spits. There was a quote from a former Representative who said that if you dropped something on the floor, you would need gloves to pick it up.

The snake represents Liberty

Clio, the Muse of History, riding in the Chariot of Time and recording events in the chamber

Alexander Hamilton Stephens, not to be confused with the other Alexander Hamilton

There are 36 statues in the Statutory Hall. One of them is not a State collection, and that is the statue of Rosa Parks, who refused to budge from her seat in a bus when she was told that she should be seated at where the blacks should be sitting. Her acts led to the Montgomery bus boycott. Her statue was placed in the State Capitol as a request from Congress.

Rosa Parks

Remember the statue of a lady right on the top of the dome of the State Capitol building? This is a replica of it:

The Statue of Freedom

The State Capitol building was built by African American slaves. Sandstones were the building blocks of the building and to manually carry them by hand would have been challenging. The workers used friction to help lift and transport sandstones.

While male slaves did the hard labour of moving the sandstones, females and children worked on making the bricks with a brick mould like this

An actual size of a piece of the sandstone

More statues at the Capitol Visitor Center:

We took the tunnel to access the Library of Congress. It was convenient - you beat the hot weather and the sun; as well as skip the security checks at the entrance of the Library.

Map of Illnois, published in the year that Illinois became the 21st State

Ceiling design

The Gutenberg Bible, printed using movable metal type

The former office of the Librarian of Congress

Exquisite ceiling

A cool lift

Entrance to Thomas Jefferson's Library

An exhibition on Women Suffrage

There was also an exhibition on Baseball:

Then and Now

There is one only good namely knowledge and one only evil namely ignorance.

Knowledge comes but Wisdom lingers.

The Chief Glory of every people arises from its Authors

British surrender at Yorktown

Spain's Support for American Independence

The US acquires Florida

This map was drawn in 1503, 7 years before the technique of projecting a sphere onto a plane was created

Asia in this map

Stonewall at 50: LGBTQ+ Activism in the United States

A peek into the Main Reading Room, open to only members

An image of the inner dome

Books must follow Sciences and not Sciences Books.

In Books lies the soul of the Whole Past Time.

The History of the World is the Biography of Great Men.

Books will speak Plain when Counsellors Blanch.

The Foundation of every State is the Education of its Youth

Library of Congress - from the outside

Capitol Reflecting Pool

We headed to the National Gallery of Art, where I took my rest and lunch, while Jocelyn continued her tour of the gallery.

Time was up and we had to head back to our hotel to pick up our luggages to move to another hotel, in preparation for the Professional Fellows Congress that would take place for the next three days.

The flag got entangled

The National Mall was crowded and abuzz, all ready for Memorial Day celebrations.

Look at those ladies sitting on top of the fire engine!

Marching in of the Lions Club

Police and government vehicles formed a road barrier

A stroll along the Department of Justice

"The place of Justice is a Hallowed place"

A gathering of largely African Americans at the Freedom Plaza

The Old Willard Hotel was the scene of the last major effort to restore the Union and prevent the Civil War

We checked out of the Residence Inn by Marriott hotel. About half of our Fellows were in New York, so everyone chipped in to help in transporting their luggages to our new hotel - the Madison Hotel.

There was some time before our dinner gathering, so we went shopping.

AFL - CIO building

Just had to get a cuppa Gongcha

About the same price as getting one in Singapore

One for the road

Interesting T-shirt for kids

Police convoy zooming past us as we reached the DNV Rooftop for our dinner

A spectacular view from the rooftop

Macarons!

Probably one of the best photographer in the team - Keij - took photos after photos of the team before sunset was gone

Team Chicago!

Some of us shared our reflections on the 4 weeks in our Placement City

I was arrowed by Farah (Brunei) to share. I cited three points:

1. That the Professional Fellows Program provided a great opportunity for me to experience work overseas. Some of us, in our professional paths, would not have had the chance to do so.
2. The 4-week journey had been extremely insightful. People looking from the outside might feel that the state of politics and democracy of US is messy. I cited the quote from a meeting with Executive Director Brad Cole of the Illinois Municipality League, where "even with two persons, consensus can be hard to reach" that I felt summed up the need to appreciate the US politics and governance systems in a contextualised manner.
   
   Being able to visit the downtown side of Chicago, and the downtrodden part of it, had also added new frames and perspectives.
    
3. The extensive and high profile network of ACYPL alumni had also enriched our experiences, bringing us to insightful visits; meeting inspiring persons; and most importantly, getting us emplaced into prestigious organisations for our fellowship programme.

This hotel couldn't be more political with the 4th US President James Madison watching over us as we snooze