Armed Forces Memorial at Town Point Park

We had a busy weekend -- we had a yard sale, we met up with friends, and we finished a few projects around the house -- but yesterday we did take the time to observe Veterans Day with a trip to the Armed Forces Memorial at Town Point Park, in Downtown Norfolk. The memorial had been on my list of places to visit for a long time... what better day to finally go and see it?

After seeing it, I think I can safely say that this is my favorite memorial I've ever visited, including some of the more famous ones in DC. It's one of those that truly blends form with function and ends up feeling both terribly sad and inspiring at the same time. A sheaf of letters -- each from a servicemember who lost their life in wars ranging from the Revolution to the Gulf War of 1991 -- are printed on bronze and then scattered across the stones and bushes in the pavilion as though blown by the wind toward the Elizabeth River.





Around the corner is a replica of The Homecoming, a famous statue that stands in the US Navy Memorial in DC. It shows a sailor reunited with his partner and son...it's impossible not to smile when you see it. But the real draw of the memorial are the words. All these hopeful/sad/mad/scared last words home whirling and twirling out to sea and away from home just like the men and women who wrote them.

It made us feel so many things to read them. I think the first and foremost was grateful. Thank you, to all our veterans.



This is just a short incident in a fellow's life, I tell myself, and soon it will be behind me, and I will have forgotten it, and settle down among you all again. - Robert Baum, d. 1943