第二次世界大战国家纪念园（World War II Memorial）坐落在华盛顿纪念碑 (Washington Monument) 和林肯纪念堂 (Lincoln Memorial) 之间，于2001年9月开始动工兴建，并于2004年4月对公众开放。

纪念园南北两端各有一个由雕塑作品环绕的拱门，纪念二战中盟军在大西洋战场和太平洋战场上取得的胜利。

哈里•杜鲁门总统（President Harry Truman）1945年向国会致辞（见以上碑文）时赞扬了盟军，并对那些在被占领国家从事地下运动的人们致敬，这些人付出的牺牲促成了盟军的胜利。【请见英文全文】

1,600万美国人曾于二战期间在美国军队中服役；其中405,399人在战争中阵亡。

在诺曼底（Normandy）登陆70周年之际，奥巴马总统说：“每当这个世界让你愤世嫉俗，每当你怀疑勇气和善良是否可能存在——请停下来想想这些人。”【请见英文讲话全文】

同盟国包括所有那些签署了1942年1月1日联合国宣言（Declaration of the United Nations）的国家，其中有美国、苏联、英国和中国。一天之后又有22个国家签署宣言（见注），到战争结束时又增加了21个签署国。在战争结束时所谋求的世界和平不仅包括了盟军战胜国，也包括了德国、日本、意大利和其他一些国家。正如杜鲁门总统1945年在旧金山（San Francisco）举行的联合国大会上所说的：“如果我们不想在战争中同归于尽，就必须学会在和平中共同生存。”【请见英文讲话全文】

注：最早的26个签署国是：美国、英国、北爱尔兰、苏联、中国、澳大利亚、比利时、加拿大、哥斯达黎加、古巴、捷克斯洛伐克、多米尼加共和国、萨尔瓦多、希腊、危地马拉、海地、洪都拉斯、印度、卢森堡、荷兰、新西兰、尼加拉瓜、巴拿马、波兰、南非联邦和南斯拉夫。

到1945年3月，墨西哥、菲律宾、埃塞俄比亚、伊拉克、巴西、玻利维亚、伊朗、哥伦比亚、利比里亚、法国、厄瓜多尔、秘鲁、智利、巴拉圭、委内瑞拉、乌拉圭、土耳其、埃及、沙特阿拉伯、叙利亚和黎巴嫩也先后签署宣言。



A Washington memorial to shared heroism, 70 years on

In the 70 years since the end of World War II, Americans continue to honor the sacrifices of those who lost their lives fighting for the peace, prosperity and stability enjoyed by much of the world today. In the United States, the principal memorial to this generation is a prominent and relatively new feature on Washington’s National Mall.

Construction of the World War II Memorial, located between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial, began in September 2001. It opened to the public in April 2004.

Two pavilions on the north and south ends of the plaza are flanked by sculptural elements that celebrate victory in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of the war.

President Harry Truman’s 1945 message to the U.S. Congress (in the above inscription) honored the alliance and paid tribute to those in the underground movements of occupied countries whose sacrifices contributed to the allied victory.

Sixteen million Americans served in the U.S. armed forces during World War II; 405,399 of them died in the conflict.

At the 70th anniversary of the Normandy invasion, President Obama said, “Whenever the world makes you cynical, whenever you doubt that courage and goodness is possible — stop and think of these men.”

The Allies included all those who signed the January 1, 1942, Declaration of the United Nations, including the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and China.  22 additional nations signed on the next day (see below) and another 21 by the end of the war.  And the peace sought at the conclusion of the war involved not only the allied victors, but Germany, Japan, Italy and other nations as well.  As President Truman said to the U.N. General Assembly gathered in San Francisco in 1945: “If we do not want to die together in war, we must learn to live together in peace.” 

NOTE: The original twenty-six signatories were:  the United States of America, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakiam, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Poland, Union of South Africa, Yugoslavia.

By March 1945, Mexico, Philippines, Ethiopia, Iraq, Brazil, Bolivia, Iran, Colombia, Liberia, France, Ecuador, Peru, Chile, Paraguay, Venezuela, Uruguay, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Lebanon also had signed on, in that order.