The 4th division memorial at Ft. Hood, Texas, is a new addition to the site. It has a touching statue of a mourning soldier and a small child.

The themes of children and mourning are also present in this memorial in Hamburg, Germany. The use of the motifs of children and mourning in these two memorials could harldy be more different, however. The German memorial is devoid of text and clearly an anti-war message. The weeping child kneels among debris strongly suggesting mass death in battle (bullet-hole-ridden helmuts) at the feet of an older statue glorifying war. The adult figure wages war, the child despises it; the child is a victim.



In the American memorial, on the other hand, the soldier might be having his doubts. His face is covered as he weeps and his thoughts are not of greater purposes. He is not in a heroic pose, but prostrate and sad. The child, however, remains uprite, unbowed, and almost moving forward. She does not weep, but brings flowers to the grave and comfort to the living - comfort to pick up and continue.

Interestingly, she is not quite touching the man's shoulder, however, suggesting perhaps a kind of blessing, much as a pastor blesses a couple at their wedding or a departing congregation with raised hands. Since the soldier is in combat uniform and the memorial he kneels before is an improvised field memorial, the child shouldn't really be there at all. Perhaps she is only in his memory or on his mind, something the not-quite-touching hand might also be meant to suggest: She is not "really" there at all. Is it the soldier's daughter or the daughter of the dead man who consoles him?

While the American child's posture and gestures might be interpreted as encouraging the mission, she is probably interpreted by most viewers and visitors as an unambiguous symbol of mourning, at least on a consious level. But while she suggests hope at the very least, the German child is clearly a symbol of dispair and hopelessness.

While the German child weeps, "Why are you killing, Daddy?" or "Why is my daddy dead?", the American child suggests, "Don't cry, Daddy, it'll be okay."

The text excerpt from the speech placed directly in front of the weeping soldier in the American memorial removes the ambiguity, however, combining themes of family and mourning with a clear justification of the sacrifice and suggesting a national consensus backing the war.

One of my students and a former student who is currently stationed near there have both recently sent me photos of memorials at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

"Iron Mike"

Vietnam

Global War on Terror

"328th Rock" (First World War)

a memorial to an individual soldier, Francisco "Marty" Martinez

These memorials make a study in what one might call "internal" military memorialization. All the memorials are on the base, accessable to civilians only after passing the controls at the gate. They represent how the military presents itself to itself. The use of military insignia, acronyms and badges on the memorials mark them much like a uniform marks the living soldier with certain attributes which are earned and then worn as an outward indicator. The names are given with military ranks, something untypical for local town or church memorials. To an even greater extent than in other memorials, the dead are kept in their service identity.

The memorial to the fallen airborne infantrymen from the "Global War on Terror" (shown above) is interesting in that the name of the war also indicates a justification for the fallen. It contrasts with other memorials which are for conflicts which require additional justification - for example for "freedom" in the case of the Fort Bragg Vietnam War linked here.