Two letters from this memorial were quoted by Catherine in her homily for Genevieve. We have more information and most of the letters in a slide show.
The Armed Forces Memorial is a 160-foot monument with 20 bronze cast letters scattered across the base of a flagpole in Norfolk on Town Point Park along the Elizabeth River. The letters are actual letters cast in bronze written by members of the Armed Forces who never returned from war. They are scattered, like the wind blew them in position. Being situated on the Elizabeth River makes this plausible.
Erected in the summer of 1998, the memorial is dedicated to veterans of American conflicts from the Revolutionary to Persian Gulf War. It was designed by James Cutler and Maggie Smith.
The key phrase to consider, quoted in the memorial is "We leave you our deaths, give them meaning" – Archibald MacLeish
Slides follow and below that selected quotes from the letters:
Armed Services Memorial (full size gallery)
Quotes from the letters follow:
"At the base of one of the birches is a flourishing wild rose which I sneaked up and picked-keeping not only head but also the rest of me carefully
DOWN during the process…. Here are some of them for you, also some daises and yellow asters from the edge of my trenches."
-Quincey Sharpe Mills 1918
"The fire is burning low and just a few live coals are on the bottom. With
the slow feeding of wood, and finally coal, a roaring fire is started. I couldn’t help thinking how similar to a human being a fire is: if it is allowed to run down too low, it can be nursed back. So can a human being. It is slow; it is gradual; it is done all the time in these field hospitals …"
-Frances Slanger, 1944
"The memories of all the blissful moments I have enjoyed with you come crowding over me, and I feel most deeply grateful to God and you that I have enjoyed them so long…. If I do not return,my dear Sarah, never forget how much I loved you…"
-Sullivan Ballou, 1861
“this absence from you is burning its brand in my soul…I trust, and feel sure, that you and all of my real friends are saying a few silent prayers, that we may all do our duty completely, and live to tell those whom we love how we did it…"
– Francis Tracy, 1918
"The shell that they threw at us….is an iron case containing upwards of a hundred ounce lead balls and inside powder. I saw one go thought a large pine three two feet thick and burst on the opposite without appearing to have met with any more resistance than if the tree had been a pillow of smoke…. ….War looks a great deal better in the newspapers, than anywhere else…."
– Robert Miller, 1862
"The Army ain’t the life for me you can bet your bottom dollar on that one too….You know something else all of my dreams are about some time after the war. And I believe that, that is a sign that I will survive."
-John Hutto 1991
"This whole thing, as are all wars, is complete lunacy, proving nothing, clear: I could still hear your voice, feel your warmth….. Living from generation to generation of wars seems like mankind admitting it doesn’t know how to be civilized. There must be a way."
-Samuel Jones 1951
"The terrible weapons that I have seen and handled, and the thought of what they could to a man, made an impression on me which I shall never forget. I was frightened at the thought that I might be using them against someone else, or that they might be using them against me, and I said so."
– John Train, 1953
"It has become more and more a chore, almost an impossible one, to write to people back home. You live in a nice, comfortable, fat world withonly a few elementary fears to disturb it. Nobody rips up the ground around you with anautomatic weapon, shrapnel doesn’t buzz or bullets crack past your ears, you’ve never hid twenty feet from people wanting to kill you or had jets lay naplam a hundred yards away from you."
– Olsen, 1970
"It’s the fellows that have gone before us who make us willingly bear our burdens. Dear God, spare our lives. for we are young and love life so much…When I played baseball I never wanted to sit on the bench, always wanted to play the whole game. And here too, I’m going out every time, and while too, I I’m playing this game, I’m going to play hard, and to win."
– Baum, 1943
…."We got a submarine today!! There is almost no chance that we missed, and the crew is already cutting notches in their belts….
…."In effect it is just another rehearsal with the addition of sound-effects. The fact that men die below us doesn’t really come into the mind, hey just happened to have the misfortune to be inside the sub when it went down. Essentially, we are killing submarines, not men- – if they want to have the bad judgment to be in the vicinity that’s their hard luck.
"Perhaps the foregoing is only a rationalization of an uncomfortable feeling that today I helped kill some men that had wives and sweethearts, mothers and children…. but I have to try to be quite ruthless or I won’t be much use in this war."
– Davis, 1943
"And it seems no one gives a damn besides us grunts in the bush. You people in the world don’t know what’s happening because the Army won’t let you know…. as long as the death count is reasonable-say under 40 a week. .. He had no right leg at all; and seeing it just turned me to jelly, man- and guys just sitting around crying – it really shakes you up. And for no goddamn reason at all."
Thomas Kingsley, 1971
"God has protected me through this, my first fiery, leaden trial, and I do give him the glory…."
Robert Simmons, 1863