Archive for the ‘Vietnam’ tag
Armed Forces Memorial
Cannonball Trail
Armed Forces Memorial
Location: West end of Town Point Park beside Elizabeth River, Norfolk, VA 23510
Visited: July 3, 2009, 2:25pm
Transcription of marker:
The Armed Forces Memorial is located here on a river that has for more than 200 years carried servicemen off to war and returned them home to loved ones. Within the Memorial are 20 inscriptions from letters written home by U.S. service members who lost their lives in war. The letters have been cast in thin sheets of bronze and are scattered across the Memorial as if blown there by the wind. From the Revolutionary War through the Gulf War each conflict is represented.
Revolutionary War 1775 – 1783 • War of 1812 1812 – 1815 • Civil War 1861 – 1865 • World War I 1917 – 1918
World War II 1941 – 1945 • Korean War 1950 – 1953 • Vietnam 1962 – 1975 • Gulf War 1990 – 1991
Caution: The Memorial contains bronze letters protruding from the walk. Please watch your step and show appropriate respect. Adults should accompany children, and no pets please.
Examples of bronze letters
My impressions: This is quite the unique monument and it is very touching. There is something about letters between people who know each other. And I’m not sure it has translated as well into the e-mail and instant messaging age. Reading these letters feels quite intimate, and that we are getting to hear from these people as they really were.
I also have to admit to some surprise that the Memorial, with its curls of bronze “paper” on the ground was ever approved. It seems that so easily somebody could trip and fall (though I believe there is ample space around them for wheelchair/walker access). I wonder if the fact that it’s surrounded by water on two sides (and therefore is not a “convenient short-cut” to anywhere, as well as only having two entrances in the brick wall that surrounds the memorial helped.
I am glad that it is there, because I think it fulfills excellently its function of helping us to remember the sacrifices made by those who have served and those who were left behind by family members who served their country (and those who could not return).
Markeroni status: Direct-logged.