The price of freedom is high. Here are 7 memorial sites in NYC where you can honor American war heroes any day of the year, not just on the three-day Memorial Day weekend.
Each of these NYC war memorials is FREE to visit and reflect on the true cost of freedom and independence.
World War Two Memorial, Battery Park
This outdoor memorial is a series of tall marble slabs embedded with the name, rank and serial number of the thousands of New York City men and women who gave their lives in WWII.
- Open daily, the same hours as Battery Park.
Auschwitz. Not long ago. Not far away.” is a massive exhibit of more than 1,000 artifacts and photos from more than 20 countries, at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, a few blocks from the WWII Memorial.
More than one million innocent souls were murdered in Auschwitz, including more than 250,000 children, in a twisted government policy of racism and anti-Semitism that was defeated by the men and women honored at the WWII Memorial, and many thousands of other men and women from the allied nations that fought alongside us and for the same reasons.
Auschwitz is a testament to our cruelty to fellow humans, and I consider this soul-wrenching exhibit also a war memorial.
The exhibit is open through the end of 2019.
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Financial District
This plaza a few blocks from Wall St. is an eclectic mix of news dispatches and the letters of US military, etched onto slabs of greenish glass.
- End of Coenties Slip, between Water and South Streets, near the South Street Seaport.
Brooklyn War Memorial, Cadman Plaza
The official name is WWII Memorial in Cadman Plaza. It is Brooklyn’s only borough-wide monument honoring the 327,000 American men and women from Brooklyn who served in uniform in World War II.
Grant’s Tomb, Upper West Side
Although not technically a war memorial, Grant’s Tomb honors the Civil War general and US President.
Yes, Ulysees. S. Grant is buried in Grant’s Tomb, alongside his wife, Julia Dent Grant, in twin marble sarcofagi, and the small museum includes historic documents and otehr artifacts.
- Grant’s Tomb is part of the National Park System and there are FREE tours by Park Rangers.
Soldiers & Sailors’ Memorial, Upper West Side
This soaring white marble monument in Riverside Park commemorates the Civil War dead. Riverside Drive at 89th Street.
- Did you know that more than 5,000 Civil War soldiers and other war supporters are buried in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery?
Soldiers & Sailors Memorial Arch, Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn
This grand arch also commemorates those who served in the Civil War, and also reminds many of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
- The arch sits on one of the most important intersections in Brooklyn.
And a seventh –
World Trade Center before 9/11
9/11 Memorial Site
Although not technically a war memorial, this is the spot where “they” declared war on us that horrible day when the World Trade Center twin towers were destroyed by evil losers and madmen, and changed our world forever.
- Visit the memorabilia display left behind by police and other First Responders from around the world, at historic St. Paul’s Chapel, a few blocks away. This is also where George Washington worshipped after his inauguration as the first US President, after leading the Revolutionary Army to victory in the War for Independence.
Never forget the price of freedom.
NYC on the Cheap publishes this list of NYC war memorials every Memorial Day weekend, July Fourth weekend and Veterans Day weekend, so we never forget the price of freedom.
What do you think about this? We welcome your comments.