Right idea, wrong spot

I sincerely wish your article (“A Memorial to Forget,” May 23) in today’s L.A. Times wasn’t true. It is a sad thing for me to see. I could have liked the WWII Memorial at Arlington Cemetery or even at the site of the old Annex, but its location is now an abomination. One would almost think Albert Speer was the architect and that it was designed for the old Berlin.

On Sundays the mall was a haven for kite flying and children running, picnics on the grass and joggers winding their way to the Memorial Bridge. There was a reverence, a sense of unity and completeness. Now a Sunday afternoon in fine weather seems incongruous or disrespectful.

It says more about the country today than the country that freed the people of the world from two tyrants.

Art and architecture isn’t just about the skill of the artists themselves but the political process that validates and builds their works.

The work at the World Trade Center site seems a little more considerate.

D.M. Thompson

Ridgecrest