by SSgt Bruce T. Forbes
(c) Copyright 1996 All Rights Reserved
(After being assigned to the Washington area, I made my first visit to the Wall with only my oldest son. We visited the Wall, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Korean Memorial. These were my thoughts.)
(When writing this, I envisioned one more statue in the trees at
the
Wall - a statue of a father and mother sitting on a bench comforting
each
other as they hold between them the notification of their child's
death.)
Mr Lincoln sits serenely
and gazes across the Mall
securely knowing the Union is still One -
a plain man of simple faith
and extraordinary courage.
To Mr Lincoln's right are words given at a battlefield
of his great civil war -
Also to his right is a recreated battlefield
from another's civil war
where soldiers caught in bronze
still trudge up a hill
caught in the rain
and the fire.
They have hallowed the ground for the sake of freedom.
To Mr Lincoln's left are other words;
"With malice towards none";
"With firmness for right";
"To bind up the nation's wounds..."
Also to his left there is a wall
where three bronze soldiers
and three bronze nurses
look for the names of fallen comrades
from another civil war -
A nation looks with them,
and by doing so
slowly binds up its wounds.
These were all men and women of simple faith
And extraordinary courage.
SSgt Forbes can be reached at forbesb@comm.hq.af.mil
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