ndmckinney|net

NPR is reporting that Charlotte Louise Berry Winters has died at the age of 109. She was the last known surviving female veteran of WWI. According to the report, there are now only 5 veterans of WWI alive in the United States.

It’s amazing to thing how little an impact the Great War has had on the long-term history of our nation. At one point it was a big deal (think Armistice Day); but now, in the words of Kurt Vonnegut, “Armistice Day was sacred. Veteran’s Day is not.”

There is a memorial to the D.C. residents who served in WWI on the national mall. It sits beneath the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. Most visitors to the mall never even notice that it is there; it can only be accessed by a dirt path from the Lincoln Memorial (next to the entrance to the Korean War memorial) leading towards Independence Ave. Once an object of great slpendor, it is now in danger of collapse due to neglect.