After veterans once again breached barricades at the shuttered Word War II Memorial on Wednesday, the National Park Service announced that it would keep the monument open to veterans as a free speech right.
After similar scenes Tuesday, two groups of veterans from Missouri and the Chicago area descended on the World War II memorial in two phases before noon, this time led by Republican and Democrat legislators.
And one veteran activist said perhaps the two feuding political parties could make peace over the issue of honoring the men and women of World War II.
All memorials on the Mall have been closed closed and most are cordoned off, as a result of the government shutdown. The National Park Service specified that only the World War II Memorial would remain open and only to veterans.
The veterans Tuesday were part of honor flight programs, which fly veterans for free from around the country to Washington to see the World War II Memorial.
Jeff Miller, co-founder of the Honor Flight Network, said: “The Park Service, they have been so compassionate. They have done everything they could, bent over backwards, to make sure veterans were not inconvenienced or disappointed.”
