The Story
The Navy and Marine Memorial is a large sculpture of a crashing wave with seven seagulls flying above. They represent all those who sacrifice for their countries on the seven seas.
Designed by the Italian sculptor Ernesto Begni del Piatta, when it was constructed, it became the first naval memorial in Washington, D.C.
The original design was fifty feet taller, however, the Hoover Airfield claimed it would disorient pilots and cause crashes. The standoff was resolved when the Bureau of Public Roads promised to place lamps on the bridge over the Boundary Channel to guide pilots at night.
Ernesto Begni del Piatta also wanted an elaborate sea-green granite base for the memorial. He spent years arguing for it, refusing to take no for an answer. Support for the expensive granite base faded after del Piatto’s 1939 death. The National Park Service provided landscaping to finish the memorial instead.
Today, the memorial is a familiar site to travelers on the George Washington Memorial Parkway and Mount Vernon Trail. Below the textured rocky surface of the water waves are swirling and crashing. It shows us that our servicemembers face dangers at sea and their sacrifices are worth remembering. And Thats...!