Why This Veterans Memorial Park Is Really For All of Us
Something big happened when I visited my dad recently in Oxford, Maryland. This is normally a sleepy little shore town, but on May 27 the whole place turned out for a major Memorial Day celebration — attended by veterans, a concert band, politicians. We all listened to the reading of names of those killed in action in the past year. I had been to commemorations before, but this one was different for me because we’ve been asked to design a veterans memorial park.
When I was in high school, the Vietnam War was still being fought and I had a draft number. For those who don’t know, there were 365 possible draft numbers, one for each day of the year. It was based on birth date. Each date was randomly assigned a number, and any call-ups would start with the number 1. My number was 5.
However, at the same time the clock was counting down to my 18th birthday, the war was winding down. Although the U.S. hadn’t switched to the all-volunteer army that we have today, there were no call-ups in that year, 1973. As a result, very few of my friends and colleagues ever served in the military and I was no exception. On the contrary, many of us even had an aversion to military service. This was the height of the war protests and, unfortunately, our returning service men were not treated as well as they should have been. That’s changed with Iraq and Afghanistan; in some ways, there’s been a complete about-face.
Yet among my friends and colleagues, we all had parents who served in World War Two or Korea. Ours was a very lucky generation for which there was little expectation, desire or cause to join the military.
Recently, I had been asked to design a veterans memorial park for Springfield Township, adjacent to Northwest Philadelphia, where we live and practice. In fact, before driving to Maryland, I dropped off the plans in the town of Wyndmoor. The VFW post there is small but lays claim to having the oldest continuously sponsored celebration in the country, going back one hundred years to 1919.
At the existing park in Wyndmoor, monuments honor Springfield Township residents who lost their lives in World Wars One or Two, Korea, or Vietnam. There’s not a good place to honor the memory of those killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, but that’s not the main design challenge. Even though the park is on a busy road, with its overgrown borders and long and narrow lot, hardly anybody knows it’s there. It’s easy to drive or walk right by without thinking. That’s the problem.
We often partner with Delran Builders for commercial, educational, or religious structures, and they asked us to join with them in completing this project pro bono, which we readily agreed to do. We would safeguard the plaques and keep the howitzer, but otherwise completely redesign the park so that it gets noticed.
A key concept is to make the memorial visible from Willow Grove Avenue. It will include the American flag and signage, and feature walking paths and 11 granite slabs with the names of those killed in the two world wars, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. But … a number of the slabs will be blank. Part of the idea is to make people think about the cost of war. Whose names will appear on those slabs? It’s a heavy price.
The attitudes of many in our country—and mine as well—have changed dramatically toward the military. Instead of Memorial Day being just the first summer cookout or day at the pool, it means so much more. My dad graduated from Yale in 1953 and went straight into the Navy. He served for two years during the Korean War, though he never saw any combat. In fact until 1973, for men, going into the military at some point in life was more the rule than the exception. My father-in-law was also in the Navy and served in the Pacific theater during World War Two.
Sitting beside my father in sleepy little Oxford during that Memorial Day inspired me to reflect on how lucky my generation and those after us have been to not be drafted into a combat situation … and what is owed to those who volunteer. All the more so to those who give their lives in service to their country.
So on this Memorial Day, I pondered what we celebrate and remember. And, while redesigning the veterans memorial park in Wyndmoor already felt like the right thing to do, it means so much more to me now. I hope it will to others, too. As with more visible memorials, we can make it part of our day to reflect with gratitude on what others gave to us.
-JL
