Air Force Memorial

At the Air Force Memorial, the sky really is the limit. But you don't have to be a former fighter pilot to
grasp the magic of flight, or the meaning of one of the newest memorials in the greater Washington, D.C.
area. So make a short stop at the Air Force Memorial and ponder how much of the nation's military might
is predicated on the continuing use of air power and how prominent a role it has played in battles past.

t does not take long to visit the Air Force Memorial, but the missions of decades past come quickly to
mind: the waves of attack planes from World War , the wars in Korea and Vietnam, the ongoing battles
of raq and Afghanistan.
As a quote from Gen. Carl A. (Toocy) Spaatz, the Air Force's first Chief of Staff, etched on marble at the
memorial, notes, "We better be prepared to dominate the skies above the surface of the earth or be
prepared to be buried beneath it.
t is a memorial simple in its design, one that can be seen from nterstate 395 heading north into
Washington, D.C. in daytime or magnificently lit at night. Visit the site and stand amidst the trio of curving,
obelisk-like, stainless steel spires that soar 270 feet into the sky and imagine the danger, bravery and
courage of fighter pilots past, present and future. t's a dizzying sensation to peer straight up into the sky
to squint at the tops of the spires that gracefully angle out in three directions as if planes in formation
were peeling off from each other in search of separate targets.
The three spires are meant to commemorate core values of the Air Force: integrity, service before self
and excellence in all that is undertaken.
And nearby granite tablets note the virtues as carried through the years, from the founding of the first
precursor to the Air Force, the Aeronautical Division of the U.S. Army Signal Corps, formed in 1907, to the
creation of the modern Air Force after World War .
Gen. John P. Jumper, the 17th Air Force Chief of Staff, aptly espouses the Air Force credo, saying,
"Service before self is that virtue within us all which elevates the human spirit, compels us to reach
beyond our meager selves to attach our spirit to something bigger than we are.
That spirit is captured with a quiet visit amidst the soaring spires at the Air Force Memorial.