ABSTRACT
The national memorials to the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the D-Day landings (including the Normandy Campaign) are located on battlegrounds that are among the most well-known, mythic places in American memory of World War II. As events, each occupies a pivotal place in the dominant American narrative of World War II as the “good war” (Terkel, 1984; Torgovnick, 2005). As memory, each is now represented by iconic battleground memorials that are the focus for (multi)national ceremonies and global tourism. What might a comparison show regarding the interpretive practices that construct history for the thousands of visitors who circulate through these memorial sites each day?
