The Concert

2008 Features

Sacred War Memorials

On the 2008 Concert
The Experience of Visiting a War Memorial
Information on Our National War Memorials
Arlington National Cemetery

Memorial Day began during the Civil War when women from the North and South spontaneously gathered to lay flowers on the soldiers’ freshly dug graves. The simple need to make a pilgrimage, to gather in a location to remember and honor our fallen has remained with us as the United States has endured more conflicts and more human losses throughout our history. This sentiment has prompted the building of three War Memorials in our Nation’s Capitol, Washington, DC – the Korean War Memorial, the Vietnam War Memorial and, most recently, the World War II Memorial.

On the 2008 Concert

This year we will journey to these three memorials, paying homage to the soldiers who have sacrificed for our freedoms and contemplating the meaning of these hallowed sites to the soldiers who fought in those wars and their families.  In particular, we will commemorate last year’s 25th Anniversary of the Vietnam Wall, the most prominent icon of the Vietnam War, where Vietnam vets who lost buddies and families who lost loved ones come to touch the names of the fallen and leave letters and offerings of honor and love.

Also on the show, General Colin L. Powell (Ret.) will speak to the experience of Vietnam veterans returning from an unpopular war and offer thanks for their courage and dedication.

The Experience of Visiting a War Memorial
For those personally affected by a war, visiting a memorial can be a physical expression of grief and a way to commune, directly or indirectly, with others who have suffered loss. It is said, “A grief shared is a grief halved.” This is why on the National Memorial Day Concert we invite you to send in a eulogy, remembrance, prayer or poem for a friend or loved one who died in one of America’s conflicts, or if you are a veteran, to share your story with us. Those of you who have suffered and sacrificed, help those of us not directly affected to understand your experience better. Let us know how you manage the pain, what keeps you going through the most difficult moments. Let us listen to your memories of your loved one. Though these war memorials in Washington, DC and others around the country are a vital part of our grieving process – and bring comfort to those visit them – we also understand that new memorials are yet to be created and some are in our hearts.

Our National War Memorials:
For more information on the Washington, DC war memorials, visit:

Vietnam Veterans Memorial:
http://www.nps.gov/vive/
(Official National Park Service site)

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall:
www.thewall-usa.com

Vietnam Women’s Memorial Foundation:
http://www.vietnamwomensmemorial.org/pages/index2.html

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund:
http://www.vvmf.org/index.cfm?SectionID=524

Vietnam Veterans Home Page:
http://www.vietvet.org/thewall.htm

Korean War Veterans Memorial:
http://www.nps.gov/kowa/
(Official National Park Service site)

NPS Korean War Memorial In-Depth Page:
http://www.nps.gov/kwvm/home.htm

World War II Memorial:
http://www.nps.gov/nwwm/
(Official National Park Service site)

National World War II Memorial:
http://www.wwiimemorial.com/

Arlington National Cemetery:
www.arlingtoncemetery.org

Arlington National Cemetery
Although Arlington National Cemetery is not a War Memorial in the strictest sense, it serves some of the same purpose for its many visitors. It is a chance to walk among headstones that chronicle American history, an opportunity to remember and honor the nation’s war heroes, and for some, a place to say a last farewell during funeral services for a family member or a friend.

The 2007 National Memorial Day Concert featured this hallowed ground and paid special attention to Arlington’s Section 60, where the soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan who are eligible and choose to be buried at Arlington are laid to rest. Arlington has become a sort of War Memorial for those who are recently fallen and or whose specific memorial has not yet been created.