War Memorials

With this post I will be caught up on the blog with what we have done in the past 10 days of so.  It has been very busy and we also had 3 days with virtually no internet.  I am glad to be up to date now.

The last time we were in Washington, D.C., was 1988.  At that time we spent time at the Viet Nam Wall and John located the name of a classmate who had been killed in that war.  Since then monuments have been built honoring those killed in World War II and the Korean War.  This visit we explored both structures.

This is the entry to the World War II Memorial.

Brass reliefs like these line the curved walls as you enter the memorial, depicting scenes of military and civilians in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters.

The central fountain is surrounded by pillars naming the 56 US states, territories and District of Columbia that united in a common cause in the war.  Pavilions on both sides are inscribed with names of key battles of the war. 

Lots of people were looking at the monument and enjoying this part of the National Mall.

A number of statements are carved into the walls of the monument, referring to civilian women who took over jobs left by men going to fight,

those who sent their sons off to war and kept the American factories working,

and the soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom.

I hope that this statement is forever true of who and what our country is and represents to the world.

The Korean War Memorial has a totally different feel.

Lifesize statues of soldiers, dressed in rain gear, surround you as you come to the monument.  You feel like you are part of the battle or reconnaissance.

One side of the wall with the names of those who died has background images of the same soldiers and it is reflective, almost like a mirror.  This photo shoes how the modern monument visitors look like they are part of the group of soldiers.

Both of these monuments are moving and made us aware of how many people over the decades have given their lives to protect us and our country.

Civil War -- Shiloh

One of the major battles of the American Civil War was fought April 6 and 7, 1862, along the Tennessee River and around the Shiloh Methodist Church. Today we visited the Shiloh National Military Park. More than 23,000 casualties were suffered by both sides, with 3,482 dead. The battle was the single largest one fought on US soil up to that time and signaled the change in fortunes for the Confederate Army. It was the first large Union victory. When we visit a national park, we almost always watch their introductory video first.  The Shiloh movie, Shiloh, Fiery Trial is 45 minutes and worth it. It provides a wonderful overview of the battle and the people involved. If you go to the park, don't miss it.

There is no way I can explain the battle to you. You can learn more about it online. But if you have never visited a Civil War battlefield park, I can give you a feel for what there is to see.

The National Cemetery, where most of the Union dead were buried, is right behind the Visitor Center.



If you click on the photo below, you can see that some graves are marked with the soldier's name but many have only a square stone with a number. Those bodies were unidentified.



Every Civil War battlefield we have visited is dotted with numerous monuments, many funded and placed by friends and veterans' groups from the states that sent soldiers to fight. Other monuments, like the ones below, are for field officers and their commands. This one names Brig. Gen. W. H. L Wallace, commander of the 2nd Division of the (Union) Army of the Tennessee.



This one honors Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston, commander of the (Confederate) Army of the Mississippi. He was killed during the battle. To this day, he is the only American general killed in battle.



Numerous monuments commemorate the troops from various states that fought and died. Below are ones from Arkansas and Illinois.





Confederate soldiers killed during the battle were not buried in the National Cemetery. After the battle ended, they were buried by Union soliders in several mass graves, like this one.



The United Daughters of the Confederacy raised the funds for this beautiful monument honoring all the confederate soldiers who died in the battle.



The wooden Shiloh Methodist Church was at the center of the battle, used to house the wounded and as Confederate headquarters for a time. This building is a carefully reconstructed reproduction of the original church, using local 150-year-old hand-sawed timbers.



The cemetery at the church, which was established in 1851, is still in use today. It feels strange to see the battlefield signs describing troop placement located among the gravestones.





There must be many surviving canons from the Civil War period. They are placed at numerous location on the battlefield to indicate where artillery batteries were located.



The battlefield was also a good place to listen to birds. If I could identify birds by their songs, I could tell you what we heard. We did see a large American Bald Eagle nest. One eagle was perched nearby and the other parent is feeding the young in the nest. I was told that bird had just flown in with a catfish.



We are parked at the Parkers Crossroads RV Park, about 50 miles from Shiloh. Almost no part of Tennesse was spared from fighting during the Civil War and the visitor center for the Parker's Crossroads battlefield is less than a mile from the campground.



In the Visitor's Center, we learned about General Nathan Bedford Forrest, a Confederate cavalry officer who caused untold problems for the Union. He won here and escaped across the nearby Tennessee.



We walked a path through part of the battlefield.



And found yet another canon.