Speak Out: Should the D.C. War Memorial Become the National WWI Memorial?

The D.C. War Memorial on the National Mall remains at the center of a controversy between those who want it to remain a monument to the District's troops and those who think it should become the national memorial for World War I. Proponents of nationalizing the memorial suggest calling the rededicated structure, the "District of Columbia and National World War I Memorial."

The memorial just received a $3.6 million makeover.

District leaders, including Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton, adamantly oppose the efforts to co-opt the District's only local memorial on the National Mall.

In an interview with The Huffington Post, Norton said:

"The city has come together and unified to strongly oppose any attempt to confiscate a memorial paid for by the residents of the District of Columbia. Schoolchildren collected 5 cents each, and somehow we're going to make it into a national memorial? ... We are not going to allow them to take away our memorial."

But on Friday, a documentary filmmaker and the daughter of Frank Buckles, the last surviving American World War I veteran, pushing for the nationalization of D.C.'s local memorial, according to the Huffington Post. The video includes interviews with visitors on the mall, excerpts from floor speeches by members of Congress and video of Buckles himself, all saying it is a shame that there is no place for those who served in WWI to be recognized on the Mall.

As The Huffington Post describes it, the video "contends that a site anywhere less prestigious less than Washington's monumental core, site of memorials to World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars, won't do."

What do you think? Should D.C. share its memorial with the nation? Is it unfair of these groups to try to compel D.C. to do so? SPEAK OUT in the comments.