Submitted by j gettinger, Nov 7, 2006 12:00

Not only in Richardson's Memorial Hall at Harvard, but also in virtually every village square one finds a memorial to local men who served and died in the Civil War -- and succeeding wars. Of late, however, the nation seems to have preferred not the touching physical monuments of old, but a kind of cultural tribute with a decidedly mixed message. For example, about 20 years ago, we started to let the Vietnam War back into our collective consciousness. Some campus memorials did go up: I know of a modest tablet on a chapel wall at Cornell. The memorial in DC, prior to the inclusion of lifelike figures, was distinctively muted. Mainly, however, we took to going to films or buying novels and histories. "Apocalipse", "Platoon". "Full Metal Jacket" all portrayed a morally compromised force laying waste to a peaceful little land -- a gross exageration of our actions, motives and the situation in that ill-conceived effort. WWII films have been back for awhile too. These cultural phenomina all to often carry a message much different from the quiet dignity of earlier monuments, for they paint the soldier as a bewildered victim. We all loved Captain Miller in "Private Ryan" (else why would he have been played by Tom Hanks), but did you notice that he said the only real purpose in carrying out their missions was for them to get home? He acted competently and heroicly throughout, but some of his words seemed taken from the anti-war lexicon. I understand that the latest Eastwood film about Iwo has the survivors of the flag-raising incident (yes, it was restaged) as victims, doesn't it? Young Colonel Shaw was a victim of his superiors' bad tactical judgment, but are we seriously to believe that he was also a victim in a larger sense? After all, his social milieu on Beacon Hill favored the war and wanted to make a political point with a Black regiment. Is the title of that great film "Glory" ironic or not? Nice of you to report that some very intelligent young people are thinking for themselves.

Note: Comments are screened, and in some cases edited, before posting. We reserve the right to reject anything we find objectionable.