Trenton World War II Memorial

While I was in Trenton last weekend I stopped to check out the World War II memorial on West State Street.  It’s right across the street from the New Jersey State House.  I haven’t seen any other World War II memorials so I can’t compare it to any others, but I will say it is something cool to check out if you are in the area.  It wasn’t particularly large, it only filled one lot.

The whole memorial was done in granite.  The centerpiece of memorial was the Victory Dome which housed a statue of Lady Liberty, not to be confused with the Statue of Liberty which is just a different redition of Lady Liberty.  Lady Liberty held a garland in her right hand and a sword in her left; probably symbolizing prosperity and strength although don’t quote me on that as I’m not too sure.  But if anyone does know, feel free to help me out, I’d like to find out for sure.  The dome was surrounded by six individual pillars, each commerating a soldier from New Jersey who was bestowed, posthumously, with a Medal of Honor.  I thought it was a great touch to the memorial.

The dome was flanked on both sides by two curved, granite walls.  The one on the left was dedicated to the Pacific theater and the right one was the European and Northern Africa/Middle East theater.  Each wall displayed a timeline of the war in their respective theater and showed different photographs, mostly notable and quite famous ones; such as a picture of the flag raising Marines on Iwo Jima and the sailor kissing a girl in Times Square.

As a somber reminder for all of those who faught and died for us in World War II, a statue of a rifle in the dirt with a helmet on top stands behind the dome, reminding all those who see it of the tremendous sacrifices our freedom requires.