By Howard Wilkinson
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WASHINGTON - One of the most eye-catching attractions for the tens of thousands who have crowded the Mall here this week has been the hundreds of World War II veterans who pulled their uniforms out of mothballs to wear once again.

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Photo gallery: WWII Memorial

Few looked sharper than Andrew Nelson III, a newspaper editor who retired to Mount Pleasant, S.C.

A small crowd of tourists and fellow veterans gathered around the 78-year-old Nelson outside the Reunion Hall to snap his picture as he sat on a park bench in his original 1943 Navy blues. His medals - including a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart - were pinned to his chest.

He was only 17 when he first donned it and it is still a near-perfect fit.

"I wasn't 18 yet when I enlisted; I had to forge my mother's signature to enlist,'' Nelson said.

A middle-aged woman who had just taken his picture with her disposable camera patted him on his shoulder.

"If I had been your mother,'' she said, "I would have slapped you silly for that.''

CINCINNATIANS HAVE LANDED: About 500 Cincinnati veterans and their spouses rolled into Washington late Friday afternoon on 10 buses owned by Croswell Bus Tours of Clermont County.

All of the people on the Croswell buses have tickets for today's dedication ceremonies in the massive seating area just west of the Washington Monument and closest to the National World War II Memorial plaza.

But seating in Section 1 is first-come, first-served, so Croswell officials have arranged for the veterans and their spouses to be bused to RFK Stadium west of the Capitol early today and shuttled in.