Pennsylvania XLVII

More than 7,000 dead.

More than 1,300 monuments.

Wandering among these, the history, the tragedy, the monumental loss of the deadliest battle of the Civil War, you might never imagine that a memorial to those lost in Vietnam would exist.

You would be mistaken.

Gettysburg College honors the 14 lost to the war, including one Medal of Honor recipient.

Gettysburg is a small college founded in the early 1830's, it currently has a student population of about 2,200. In the very few records I could find then population was not terribly different during the war years.

 

"We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning

We were young. We have died. Remember us."

                                                                                       Archibald MacLeish

This oft repeated quote from Archibald MacLeish sums up the hopes of the lost.

 

 

The College has said it well, too.

Next time, on December 8th, we will return to Wisconsin, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00 am.

To see memorials from Pennsylvania or any other state, please click a state name on the left side of this page. Please note that Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico have been added to the list.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and very soon Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed