Veterans honored on Capitol Campus

[David]

The Olympian


OLYMPIA – Joseph A. Waterhouse has joined the tours of veterans memorials on the Capitol Campus almost every year since he retired from the Army 37 years ago.

"It's a time to see some veterans, and also commemorate the veterans I knew, the ones I didn't know," said the Shelton man. "It's Veterans Day. To me it's a very, very special day."

More than 40 people paid homage at most of the campus war monuments Monday, starting at the Korean War Memorial.

"I've been a little bit discouraged when I see people walk by and wonder what in the world it's all about," he said. He served in the conflict, also known as the "Forgotten War," in a 23-year military career.

Attendance during the annual tour on campus has been growing, said Sheila Johnson Teeter, one of the many Employment Security Department employees who help organize it through the International Association of Workforce Professionals.

Always emotional, with speeches and music at each site, the event has grown in significance for Johnson Teeter.

"I have a son in Iraq right now. … He's got a wife and daughter now, too, so we're there to support them," she said. "Then I have a son-in-law that's in the Marine Corps, and I have a daughter who is in the Air Force."

Winged Victory, the memorial to veterans of World War I, had a new look this year. The group of bronze statues is actually the oldest memorial on campus, but was recently restored, including a new bronze finish instead of the gold mix applied nearly 20 years ago.

"This is my favorite memorial, and I'll tell you why. Behind the three soldiers, what do you see? A nurse," said Lourdes Alvarado-Ramos, deputy director of the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Many of the nurses in World War I died during the conflict, as have nurses in other wars, she noted, but the nurse on Winged Victory is the only female veteran depicted in the campus memorials.