tell us what it s like where you are, brian. reporter: well, i ll show you what it s like. you can really get a good view of that and kind of perspective when you look across the river from where we are. we are at the marine corps memorial in arlington. it s also known ads the iwo jima memorial. i m going to step out of the shot. our photojournalist steve williams is going to take you past the iwo jima. on a normal day in a straight line, you can see from here, you can see the iwo jima memorial, right behind it the lincoln, behind the lincoln you see the washington monument, and right behind the monument you can see the u.s. capitol. but as steve goes in tighter, take a look at that. you can make out the lincoln memorial. and by the way, you can make it out better than you could a couple of hours ago. see if you can see the washington monument behind it. i don t know if you can see it from the camera, brianna, but in the naked eye here i can barely seat it. and the capitol, as steve
virtue not just for marines that fought in hiroshima but just the like the rest of the memorial. it s dedicated to all of the maence over the country even though marines dates back to when our country was founded. so this is reflective of all the marines that have ever served and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice to our country. normally this place has over a million visitors a year, about a million and a half people come to the u.s. marine corps, war memorial annually. most of those people are on a patriotic pilgrimage to washington, d.c. so you see a lot of tour buses that come to the u.s. marine corps war memorial. griff: they come because they know it s an iconic monument but those who haven t visited, why do you believe it s iconic? all you have to do take one minute to look at the place and have the background of the the national mall, the backdrop of the national mall with the flag that flies 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. the photo that turned into the statute of
we talk to erin about the history of this statute, watch. we are here with national park service ranger erin laraka, marine war memorial. such an amazing statute, erin. tell us a little bit about this. what is the significance on memorial day of this specific memorial? most people don t realize that this is actually the western expanse of the national mall, this memorial dedicated in 1956 the first war memorial dedicated on the national mall if you expand the national mall on that access on arlington ridge which is where we are today. this memorial is dedicate today all the marines who have given their lives, have made that ultimate sacrifice. there s no more poignant place to be than the u.s. marine corps on memorial day. griff: and we are just adjacent to arlington national cemetery.
the biography of the marines that have gone before, we re remembering korean war vets, vietnam vets and when you see the looks on faces when the marines have done before, they look forward at envy and pride. the inscription, uncommon valor with a common virtue, words to live by very important to the marine corps. absolutely. we saw some marines getting commissioned here in a small private ceremony, as that young marine goes forward, he will face tough challenges. we talked a little about the challenges, but what will be the toughest for him? the toughest again is probably the uncertainty out there. what they can rely on is their training and what they ve been taught in school and the fleet and learn from their nco s and safe nco s how to get it done the right way when they re
timeline for when that might happen. jen psaki, white house press secretary has said back in april that that would all be based on the decision would be based on what the medical and health experts say so no timetable on it yet but sources on the ground are extremely worried there might be a surge coming, alicia. alicia: hot and dangerous time. aishah at the border, thank you. griff: sheer magnitude of this memorial is why it s so inspiring. 78 feet tall with flag pole 60 feet. the american flag flying 24/7, 365. you see the marines shoulder an m1 carbine and the canteen if it were real would hold 8 gallons of water. we will be right back.