War Memorial

[den]

This was taken at the War Memorial at Canberra. This wall lists all the Australian soldiers killed in the second world war. On the other side of the hall is the list of those killed in WW1. Behind me are the plaques for those killed in Korea, Malasia, Viet Nam, Somalia, East Timor and all the UN actions we're involved in.



One day, one Armistice Day, when they gave out all the little paper poppies, someone discovered that the stem would push through the gap between the bronze plaques. They pushed their poppy next to the name. This is why there are little red flowers on the wall now.

Comments

[klwalton.livejournal.com]

2-1/2 year ago my dad and I took a trip to France. We spent most of our time in Paris, but one of our side trips was Normandy. Part of that trip was a visit to the American Cemetery in Colleville-sur Mer. More than 9,000 headstones are lined up in military precision over the lush green of the cemetery. But what moved me the most was the Garden of the Missing, with its wall of names, ages and branches of service curving in a semi-circle around beds of red flowers. I got the same feelings reading that wall as I did the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. The Wall of the Missing isn't as dark, as stark, as the wall in D.C. But the impact is the just the same. I imagine the impact of your wall in Canberra wouldn't be any different.