I have visited the Viet Nam memorial for both personal and academic reasons. It is a momument to the men and women who fought for our country, a lithic reminder of the more than 50 thousand men and women sent to war for the USA.
I’ve seen many emotions exhibited at the memorial: Honor, anger, remembrance, patriotism, saddness, loss etc…etc…
My questions are: Where will the Iraqi Memorial be erected? Will it be the same emotionally as the Viet Nam Memorial? Will it envoke the same emotions? [Conjecture->] Will it be as large?
Vietnam is Vietnam. The setting - the 60’s, the 70’s - and the cultural and political climate…the location in SouthEast Asia and the 50,00 plus killed, along with the POW and MIA mystique make it just a bit different than other conflicts…hence the unique power of the memorial.
It’s not fair to compare anything to Vietnam. Wars and conflicts can be similar, but the need to identify on thing by comparing it to another is tricky.
If there ever is an Iraqi war memorial, it should remember the people lost and injured. The need of the memorial to help heal homeland hearts by order of size and magnitude will be determined by how the Iraqi conflict is viewed historically.
I don’t think we should worry about comparing it to Vietnam memorials. Who knows…we might turn around and judge the Iraqi conflict as one of the boldest moves in history. Someone finally went into the middle east and did something.
Good point. Maybe I should have been slightly more specific when it comes to the juxtaposition. I never want to compare the two conflicts when it comes to specific emotions attached to each. I would like to postulate as to what the memorial will emotionally mean now. Having just seen Farenheit 9/11 I have the topic on my mind…
I honestly believe F-9/11 will wind up looking silly when everything shakes out, with the Iraqi conflict being viewed in a more positive light.
I think it’s unfortunate that we are in ‘memorial mode’, when everyone feels compelled to create memorials for individual events.
Some memorials need to be more sweeping. Maybe a joint KIA, MIA and POW memorial for all conflicts. Something that weaves a history as it grows over time.
Guess I never gave MHO on some points:
An Iraqi war memorial won’t evoke the same emotion or be as large as the Vietnam Memorial. I doubt it will be erected as a national monument as well.
It’s kind of early to think about an Iraq War memorial, isn’t it? Why not let it wait a generation or so, so that we can see how things really turn out?
Or at least a little over a half a decade, like VN. Come to think of it, there’s also how the SEAsia conflict was something that itself was quite prolonged, so there was a lot of “judgement of history” happening even as it was still ongoing.
The VN memorial’s timing contrasts with the Korea and WW2 memorials, that came much later. It’s almost as if there was a special urgency to “do right” by the fallen and the returned in the case of VN. My supposition is that in Iraq’s case probably we’ll see a return to that earlier tradition, of communities building memorials to their local units and their fallen in the short term, and there being a national memorial only later, when there is a better historic perspective.
Philster, I suppose the Tomb of the Unknowns would be the closest we have to a single collective monument to the KIA. However, by its nature, it (a)cannot really be used as a mass-public-pilgrimage point, and (b) may not speak to those who feel that the specific circumstance of each war has a special meaning.
First question: It’ll be a while, seeing as how the WWII Memorial has just opened and that the Korean War Memorial didn’t open until about 40 years after the Korean War ended.
Second question: Ask in 20 years.