The memorial opened to the public on April 29, 2004. On May 29, there was a dedication ceremony (which is covered separately).
While I was there on October 18, I ran into William “Barry” Owenby and had a chat with him. He is the project executive for the American Battle Monuments Commission and dealt a lot with this project, including procurement and contracting. We talked about misunderstandings about the memorial (people don't understand what the stars represent unless they're the right age), the "Kilroy Was Here" engraving (which he says he'll get stained in the next few weeks so it shows up better), where bunting goes, the Washington Monument trench, etc.
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