Baltimore, Maryland, USA

Anchor Cities of Megalopolis: Baltimore. Fifty million people (one out of six American) live in Megalopolis. Its dominance of the U.S. economy was established centuries ago, and it has held. In fact, wrote Jean Gottmann, in no other place in the world are there so many large cities so close to each other. It's a constellation as unique as that tall ship. Get it? [2021]

White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, USA

Today marks the anniversary of the event that drew America into World War II. Eighty years ago, the Japanese Empire bombed the naval base at Pearl Harbor. Years later, White Sulphur Springs, like many home towns, underwrote a Roads of Honor program: a series banners-cum-encomia that turned the town's utility poles into a veterans' parade. [2021]

Lidgerwood, North Dakota, USA

What do we put on a pedestal in American culture? The Military. So, expect to find many a public park with aircraft, including helicopters, on display. The Cobra has become iconic of the Vietnam War. For Marines who were stationed there, an installation like this must trigger a lot of memories. [2007]

Washington, DC, USA

Respected President + Prestigous Architect = Worst memorial on or off the National Mall. It was dedicated less than a year ago but seems anchored in the design ideas of the last century with some contemporary elements that just don't work. You'll have to visit to experience the full negative effect. Too bad for Ike (whose full name should be under the quote)! [2021]

Marion, Virginia, USA

Hundreds of white crosses topped by American flags create a forest of honor on the Smyth County court house lawn. It's an annual Memorial Day tradition that helps the community remember veterans who lost their lives defending our country. The tradition persisted during 2020 and continues this year. [2019]

Washington, DC, USA

Inflatable tank at the International Spy Museum: "This phony tank is similar to what the Luftwaffe saw from the air. . . . to mislead Germany about the location and the date of the D-Day invasion of France. Later, on the battlefields of Europe, the phantom divisions and fictitious convoys . . . were amazingly effective at fooling the enemy." [2021]

Birmingham, Alabama, USA

American Gun Culture ~ Exhibit D: Billboards like this show up in every state. Attending a gun show is what patriotic Americans do. Need proof? The message is in red, white and blue, just like the Stars and Stripes. On the other hand, this is Alabama, so maybe it's just like the Stars and Bars of the old Confederacy. [2018]

Charleston, South Carolina, USA

What was life like before coronavirus? Here's a picture that may be seen nostalgically five years from now. But... but... They aren't standing six feet apart and they aren't wearing masks. These Civil Air Patrol cadets are on their way to see where the CW began? What will we preserve to show where the other CW began? [2008]

New York, New York, USA

Intrepid means fearless, which captures the resolve of New York City to meet Covid-19 head on. The USS Intrepid is practically next door to the Javits Center, which is being temporarily transformed into a 1000-bed hospital for non-corona cases. [2017]

Ravenswood, West Virginia, USA

After World War I, today came to be known as Decoration Day. The main ritual was taking flowers to the cemetery to decorate the graves of loved ones who had lost their lives in war. In practice, flowers were put on all family graves. After World War II, Memorial Day came to be the replacement moniker for Decoration Day. [2017]

Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

Real Human Characters: Dress makes the man, and there is something unmistakable about Scottish dress. These soldiers (men and women!) are part of the Royal Regiment of Scotland: on parade in Edinburgh. [2017]

Riga, Latvia

It is nothing more than a movie being filmed on the streets of Riga, but it does remind you of the unenviable fate of a small state trying to survive between two aggressors: Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia. What's amazing is that all three Baltic States held out for so long, and are once again sovereign in their own right. [2003]

Sahuarita, Arizona, USA

Here's the last of its species: a Titan II intercontinental ballistic missile (without its nuclear warhead!) still occupying its silo in southern Arizona. The silo was built in 1963 to assure (1) that the Cold War would not become a 'hot' war, or (2) that if the Cold War did become a 'hot' war, the U.S. would win it. Welcome to the Titan Missile Museum. [2018]

Riga, Latvia

Here's a monument that just exudes the Communist era. Although it is a reminder of Latvia's Soviet past, it is also a reminder of the heroism of the Latvian riflemen who stood up to an advancing German army in 1915 and then became part of Russian forces to fight the Germans in World War I. [2003]

Wahoo, Nebraska, USA

Wahoo is the county seat of Saunders County. The county courthouse might be the only one in the country with a full-size torpedo out front. It's a memorial to the USS Wahoo, one of the most famous submarines of World War II. When it ran out of torpedoes, it surfaced and kept on fighting. Then, it was sunk in the strait between Japan and Russia. [2009]

Milford, Connecticut, USA

The memorial on Milford's village green reminds us that the United States entered the Great War, later known as World War I, exactly one hundred years ago this month. Question: What was the colloquial term for the men who were part of the American Expeditionary Forces in the war? (Hint: here.) Now, you know what you're looking at. [2008]

Suomenlinna Island, Finland

After World War II, Finland was banned from having submarines. (Go figure!) But one was salvaged, the Vesikko, and it now provides just one more reason why everyone who visits Helsinki should take the ferry to Suomenlinna Island. [2005]

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, USA

Is it nobler in the mind to suffer the stings and woes of icy fog or to take arms against a sea of troubles? Will the next four years evolve as: (a) a Shakespearean comedy, or (b) a Shakespearean tragedy? As "One Corinthians" reminds us: For now we see through a glass (or icy fog), darkly. [2016]

Camp Pendleton, California, USA

If you have been a U.S. Marine since World War II, you may have spent some time at Camp Pendleton. Not only has it served the defense needs of the United States, it has also had the effect of allowing nature to have her way with at least a small part of the Pacific coastline. Today is Veterans Day. [1992]

Jefferson City, Missouri, USA

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, with its 58,307 names, stands on the Mall in Washington, D.C. In addition, several replicas (like this one) move from community to community to make it possible for everyone to participate in the experience of honoring those who gave their lives in the Vietnam War. [2015]