Inside the Beltway

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Thousands strong

There was hardly a dry eye in the large platoon of aging troops who deployed one last time to dedicate a long-overdue National World War II Memorial on the Mall in Washington.

Standing tall and proud among this "greatest generation," as these surviving soldiers have come to be called -- his late father's military dog-tags around his neck -- was Washington columnist Cal Thomas.

"He couldn't be here, so I came to honor him," explained Mr. Thomas, whose syndicated column appears in The Washington Times. "My Dad, Clinton S. Thomas, was a tech sergeant in the Army. He was one of five brothers who fought in World War II -- three in Europe, two in the Pacific. All survived and came home."

Sgt. Thomas died in 1983.

Still chiseling

Vietnam-era veterans and their families will be on hand for today's annual Memorial Day observance at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, where Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge will deliver the keynote address -- including a few words about this country's latest war on terrorism.

Meanwhile, the names of 10 servicemen recently inscribed on the Wall will become "official" war casualties when their names are read aloud at the 1 p.m. ceremony. The new inscriptions bring the number of names on the Wall to 58,245.

Also speaking today will be retired Army Gen. Barry R. McCaffrey and Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick, Catholic archbishop of Washington.