What do you think of war memorials?

[jmc247]

What are your feelings about war memorials? In the U.S. our WW2 war memorials are more along the lines of the triumphal memorials the Romans did. The Germans made more somber ones to the dead.

How do you think nations should do war memorials? Should the popularity of the war have any factor in honoring the dead?

Some pics by the way of a German war memorial in Egypt.

 

[Squiggy]

What are your feelings about war memorials? In the U.S. our WW2 war memorials are more along the lines of the triumphal memorials the Romans did. The Germans made more somber ones to the dead.

Well, they didn't win that one...so they memorialize the dead instead of a victory. We did it with Vietnam.

 

[Nerys Ghemor]

I wonder if you've actually visited many war memorials. The Vietnam one especially--but having visited the World War II memorial, I would not say the mood there was at all like some kind of celebratory Roman place.

Some Civil War memorials are not in the best taste, in my opinion, because they don't always take into account the enormity of the tragedy--of families slaughtering each other. I was pissed when I drove past Shiloh and saw a billboard advertising it as though it was a GREAT day in the park for you and your kids. Um...NO. That is a place to teach your kids how horrible the Civil War was.

But most memorials I do not have a problem with; their purpose is to remember the dead, not to be a tourist attraction.

 

[jmc247]

I alluded to that point when I talked about the issue of popularity. I mean we won the first Gulf War quickly, we won the second one longer and thus it's less popular. But, should any of that matter when making a war memorial to soldiers sacrifices?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I don't think war memorials should ever be celebratory in character. They should focus on the costs of war, rather than the spoils. At the end of the day, all wars represent terrible failures of human potential, and have most often consisted of poor people killing other poor people to benefit of very wealthy people. Hardly anything to celebrate.

Memorials like the Vietnam Memorial are quite appropriate, I think.

 

[1001001]

The Korean War Memorial, The Vietnam War Memorial, and the World War II Memorial in Washington DC are all very different, and each magnificent in their own way.

The Korean War Memorial especially (to me) is haunting and somber. The oversized soldiers all have such hollow looks...like they're already dead.

I like all three, and do not think there's anything inappropriate about their appearance or tone.

 

[Squiggy]

I'm not a huge fan of the WWII memorial. It seems too sterile.

Not to mention the location or the fact it took waaaaaaay too long.

 

[TheBrew]

I go to the War Memorials every year to reflect and pay my respects. It really hits me in the gut sometimes, especially since my deceased Grandfather fought in Korea and a lot of memories flood back to me.

 

[WillsBabe]

War memorials fill me with sadness at the loss of life. Every town and village in the UK has a war memorial, or so it seems. As I travel through even the smallest village in Devon, I see the war memorial or Cenotaph, and when I look at the names I see that there are often several from one family. It makes me sad to think of entire families of men being wiped out. It isn't just the war memorials in my own country that sadden me. In the capital town of Gozo there is a war memorial in the market square. It made me think when I was there recently of how war ravages the world and how men and women from every corner of it get swept up and swept away.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I don't think I've ever found a war memorial that truly works for me, but in fairness I'm not sure if I ever could. It's not that I really find any of them inappropriate or offensive...I guess I'm just too sensitive to the loss, and find them rather redundant. War memorials don't provide any catharsis for me, and while I don't find them disrespectful I don't exactly find them respectful either. Plenty of people do, of course, so I suppose I'm glad they're constructed for those people's sake. I guess maybe my means of relating to war and the war dead is just subtly different to most peoples'?

And while I know this is not what most people constructing them intended, I must admit the statues and monuments and ribbons etc do at times seem to me a form of display rather than reflection, as though societies and nations are defiantly proud of their losses and sacrifices. Less of a remembrance and more of a staged indulgence in pain, like a child making a deal out of his bruises and scabs as a strange form of posturing - not aggressive posturing, but nonethless with a hint of disdain in there. If that makes any sense. Again, though, I'm not trying to condemn war memorials - that's nohing but my slight, personal discomfort with them.

I suppose memorials are what you make of them, and if they help you in remembrance, etc, then I'm glad they mean something to you.

 

[cultcross]

I don't think war memorials should ever be celebratory in character. They should focus on the costs of war, rather than the spoils. At the end of the day, all wars represent terrible failures of human potential, and have most often consisted of poor people killing other poor people to benefit of very wealthy people. Hardly anything to celebrate.

This. One of the most poignant 'war memorials' is to visit the battlefields in France and see the 'crosses row upon row' for yourself. That was more than enough memorial for all wars for me, really.

War memorials should be to remember the tragic loss of life, not the "victory" that was achieved or otherwise. For those we can only remember, there was no victory.

 

[Holdfast]

I'm not sure there's anything symbolically unique about a war memorial as opposed to any other kind of statue. They all act as a physical prompt upon which the viewer can project & focus their own thoughts about whatever it is being commemorated. Sometimes there's a little more guidance provided by the designer than others, but the principle is really much the same as any other public structure, so I don't really have any strong opinion as to their presence or design. Whether they're celebratory or sorrowful is usually a function of the society's consensus opinion on the conflict in question (or, at least, the opinion of the memorial commissioner), which seems a reasonable enough position for the maker to take.

 

[Amaris]

I don't think war memorials should ever be celebratory in character. They should focus on the costs of war, rather than the spoils. At the end of the day, all wars represent terrible failures of human potential, and have most often consisted of poor people killing other poor people to benefit of very wealthy people. Hardly anything to celebrate.

This. One of the most poignant 'war memorials' is to visit the battlefields in France and see the 'crosses row upon row' for yourself. That was more than enough memorial for all wars for me, really.

War memorials should be to remember the tragic loss of life, not the "victory" that was achieved or otherwise. For those we can only remember, there was no victory.

I've always seen them as a way of saying "see all of these lost lives and destroyed futures? Don't let this terrible tragedy happen again!"

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I'm not sure there's anything symbolically unique about a war memorial as opposed to any other kind of statue. They all act as a physical prompt upon which the viewer can project & focus their own thoughts about whatever it is being commemorated. Sometimes there's a little more guidance provided by the designer than others, but the principle is really much the same as any other public structure, so I don't really have any strong opinion as to their presence or design. Whether they're celebratory or sorrowful is usually a function of the society's consensus opinion on the conflict in question (or, at least, the opinion of the memorial commissioner), which seems a reasonable enough position for the maker to take.

Very good points, Holdfast, if I may say so. Nicely said. And probably a healthy way to look at it.

 

[Bob Karo]

I've yet to see a happy upbeat war memorial. Or one that was gloating. They all honor the dead. In some cases aknowledge the victories their sacrifices made possible, and sometimes we honor those who managed to suceed in extremely difficult circumstances.

I yet to come across a WWII declaring, "Suck it! We won bitches!"

 

[MANT!]

Visited battlefields and memorials..
the older ones often are celebrations of victory, the more modern ones are much better in setting a proper tone in regards to the costs..

one should visit them whenever possible, just to reflect..

 

[FPAlpha]

I really don't like memorials that glorify war as something heroic and that it was something glorious. Best examples would be those made by communists in the Cold War era.

I really like the subdued ones that try to evoke what war is, tries to make people remember and think, e.g. the Vietnam War memorial is fantastic.. "just" the names of all those who died there put up to remember them.