Reflection 3

I found today’s lecture on the Vietnam Memorial to be very insightful, especially concerning memorial gifts that were brought in honor of the soldiers who served and died in the war. Growing up my parents always encouraged me to bring an object to a funeral that reminded me of the deceased, such as a photograph. When I was young I figured the act of bringing these objects was just a normal tradition or ritual that had been passed down for many generations. Learning that this new traditions started just a couple decades ago came as a shock.

I also found it very fascinating knowing how the ideas and feelings toward soldiers have changed dramatically during the course of our history. At the very beginning of our early nation and in other countries, soldiers were buried in mass graves and not identified. The battle at Gettysburg changed this custom by placing soldiers into individual graves and attempted to identify the bodies. What I find most interesting and which makes me proud is that we have continued to put emphasis on the soldier. We later gave dog tags to soldiers after Gettysburg. During the Vietnam War, Americans put the emphasis on the soldier greatly and organizations such as POW were created to help combatants. What I find most interesting is how we have gone from a nation where we placed our soldiers into mass graves, to a nation that spends millions of dollars searching for the bodies of soldiers that may have been lost. This nation transition has placed the soldier in the center of the war which continues today and will continue in future wars.