Clarendon War Memorial

Arlington, Virginia is teeming with popular historical attractions, including the iconic Iwo Jima Memorial and sprawling Arlington Cemetery.  One of the lesser known nods to Arlington County’s storied past is a memorial to local soldiers who lost their lives in WWI, WWII, Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq & Afghanistan.

Initially erected in the 1930’s at the intersection of Wilson Boulevard and Highland Street, the Memorial also spent time at Clarendon Circle and later near the Arlington Courthouse before landing in it’s current location. Hidden in plain sight, this medium-sized monolith, flanked by cannons, now sits in the middle of the crowded intersection of Washington, Wilson, and Clarendon Boulevards, where it has stood since 1986.

The WWI plaque has been a point of contention for some time, as the last two names displayed (Arthur Morgan and Ralph Lowe) are separated from the other names and, and are accompanied by the word “colored” in parentheses. The plaque was temporarily removed to correct the spelling of the latter man’s name to Ralph Rowe in May 2019, but no other modifications have been made. 

Additional research into those who perished during WWI reveals that among those for whom the cause of death is known, the most common meetings with fate by this cohort resulted from being killed in action or succumbing to either the Spanish Flu or influenza - a chilling echo from the past given the modern day ravages of COVID that recall that time over a century ago when a pandemic of somewhat similar character accounted for 675,000 deaths in the US and some 50 million worldwide.