Our nation’s wounded warriors need time to heal; and the rest of us need a place in which to reflect upon their sacrifice. Here’s David Martin:

It’s a thing of beauty designed to honor an ugly fact: the wounds of war. The name of Washington’s newest memorial — American Veterans Disabled for Life — makes the point.

Project director Barry Owenby gave Martin an advance look at the memorial, which opens next Sunday. It’s for disabled veterans of all wars, of whom an estimated three million are alive today.

“It doesn’t end with the war; they live with it forever,” Owenby said.

“They have a trauma of injury, a healing process, and then their rediscovery of purpose. So that’s the story that we’re trying to tell here.”