A teachable moment.
That’s what Executive Director of the Friends of the National World War II Memorial Holly Rotondi hopes will come out of a video showing a group of people riding ATVs inside the memorial in Washington, DC.
“I think these people, whoever they were, were probably not doing it with malicious intent,” she said. “They were rather just very ignorant.”
At least three people can be seen in the video, revving their engines.
Rotondi said her initial reaction to the video was shock, disgust and anger. Then, another emotion kicked in. It fired her up to continue sharing the stories of the WWII generation - the American servicemen and women who served during World War II.
“We need to make sure their legacy lives on beyond all of us,” she said. “They are leaving us so quickly.”
The Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that 200 World War II veterans die each day.
The video came to Rotondi’s attention via a post on X via DCNews Live.
“It shows ATV riders circling the pool in the memorial,” she said. “They are clearly in the memorial.”
The video ends as the group is approaching the Freedom Wall.
“It’s a brief clip,” she said. “You can clearly hear the revving of the engines. You can kind of see them going by the Atlantic Arch.”
The incident occurred in the evening and there were not a lot of visitors at the memorial when it occurred. The memorial represents the 16 million service members who served during World War II and honors the 400,000 who gave their lives.
“It represents every American of that generation, it represents our allies, it represents us coming together, unified in a common cause, to defeat tyranny, to defeat fascism,” Rotondi said. “It represents one of the greatest chapters of American history.”
She said that legacy is critical to what the nation is going through today.
“We hae to be the ones to carry on their legacy and remember what we’re capable of as Americans,” Rotondi said.
It is illegal to ride ATVs on DC streets. U.S. Park Police are reviewing the footage in order to identify those involved.
Reach Julia LeDoux at Julia@connectingvets.com.