On November 13, 1982, I was present at the groundbreaking for the Vietnam Memorial, a drizzling day that turned the ground in front of it into a grim muddy trench. So I saw for the first time what has been happening daily since: People moving toward the Wall’s black polished surface, locating the names of loved ones, seeing their own reflections at the same time – and crying.

It has surely fulfilled the function the original design jury articulated for it: “a place of quiet reflection, and a tribute to those who served their nation in difficult times. All who come here can find it a place of healing.”

At the same time, I have not forgotten the contemporary controversy around the memorial, and one criticism has been particularly nagging: that it contained no inscriptions to declare the meanings of these deaths. This began a tradition of eloquence falling dumb rather than attempting, however imperfectly, to rise to the occasion.

At the first anniversary of September 11, many of us were struck at the abdication of the public speakers who, instead of delivering speeches in their own words, simply read the Gettysburg Address – as though Lincoln’s prescience comprehended everything we really needed to understand about September 11.

This tradition has now been reversed by the inscriptions on the World War II Memorial on the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., dedicated on Memorial Day a year ago. When I visited it this spring, I could not help reflecting on two things: How adequate these inscriptions were in declaring the meaning of the national struggle in World War II, and how resonant they are with the themes of our struggles in Afghanistan and Iraq. In particular, I could not help but reflect on what has transpired in those two countries since the memorial was dedicated a year ago.

It has been said that a monument tells us, “Always remember,” a memorial tells us, “Never forget.” The relations of a memorial’s inscriptions to past and present are forever changing. Each of us is always left alone in its presence to make our own reflections on what we must not forget, and yet these reflections will never be quite the same at each visit.

For what they are worth, then, I give a few thoughts that couldn’t help crossing my mind when I walked through the World War II Memorial for the first time this spring. This time, unlike more than 20 years ago, I was in the presence of a memorial that did not leave me with no declaration of the meanings of the deaths but only the names of the dead and a mirror into which to look while grieving. Words inevitably begot words:

Announcement Stone

Here in the presence of Washington and Lincoln, one the eighteenth century father and the other the nineteenth century preserver of our nation, we honor those twentieth century Americans who took up the struggle during the Second World War and made the sacrifices to perpetuate the gift our forefathers entrusted to us: a nation conceived in liberty and justice.

Those 20th-century Americans judged that the only way to perpetuate that gift was to spread liberty and justice to other countries, employing overwhelming force to bring about unconditional surrender, then occupying the liberated countries for as long as it took to sow the seeds of durable democracies there. That was not the last time Americans have made that judgment.

Flagpoles

Americans came to liberate, not to conquer, to restore freedom and to end tyranny.

And so we later came to Afghanistan and Iraq, and may yet come to other countries under tyrants. Let tyrants tremble.

Eastern Corners

Pearl Harbor

December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy … no matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people, in their righteous might, will win through to absolute victory.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

September 11, 2001, will live in greater infamy, because it was an attack on a civilian target by terrorists representing no nations. There can be no absolute victory over terrorism, but righteous might can remain resolute against it forever, vowed never to appease it.

They have given their sons to the military services. They have stoked the furnaces and hurried the factory wheels. They have made the planes and welded the tanks, riveted the ships and rolled the shells.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt

Liberty and justice will always require some citizens ready to sacrifice not just their property or their convenience but their lives.

Women who stepped up were measured as citizens of the nation, not as women … this was a people’s war, and everyone was in it.

Colonel Oveta Culp Hobby

And now the people of America have brought hope to the women of Afghanistan and Iraq, some 25 million of them, as citizens and officials in their governments.

They fought together as brothers-in-arms. They died together and now they sleep side by side. To them we have a solemn obligation.

Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

Our solemn obligation in a war in which no absolute victory is possible is to remain resolute forever.

Southern Walls

Battle of Midway, June 4-7, 1942

They had no right to win. Yet they did, and in doing so they changed the course of a war … even against the greatest of odds, there is something in the human spirit – a magic blend of skill, faith and valor – that can lift men from certain defeat to incredible victory.

Walter Lord, Author

That same magic transformed the death of 3,000 Americans on September 2001 into the free elections of 50 million Afghans and Iraqis by January 2005.

The War’s End

Today the guns are silent. A great tragedy has ended. A great victory has been won. The skies no longer rain death – the seas bear only commerce – men everywhere walk upright in the sunlight. The entire world is quietly at peace.

General Douglas MacArthur

Terrorists are dedicated to making MacArthur’s thought impossible. The answer to them is to walk in the sunlight, quiet, upright, and resolute, every day of our lives.

Northern Walls

We are determined that before the sun sets on this terrible struggle our flag will be recognized throughout the world as a symbol of freedom on the one hand and of overwhelming force on the other.

General George C. Marshal

Though it is not necessary to use overwhelming force in every fight for freedom, it is necessary to possess overwhelming force and never to lose credibility about our readiness to use it in the name of freedom.

D-Day, June 6, 1944

You are about to embark upon the great crusade toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you … I have full confidence in your courage, devotion to duty and skill in battle.

General Dwight D. Eisenhower

Whenever Americans are seen in the eyes of the world to have lost their courage, devotion to duty, and skill in battle, the likelihood of attacks on America will soar.

Western Corners

Our debt to the heroic men and valiant women in the service of our country can never be repaid. They have earned our undying gratitude. America will never forget their sacrifices.

President Harry S. Truman

They sacrificed themselves to preserve freedom at home by spreading it abroad. We pay our unrepayable debt, and show our undying gratitude, by remembering why they made the sacrifice, and with what success in the long run.

The heroism of our own troops … was matched by that of the armed forces of the nations that fought by our side … they absorbed the blows … and they shared to the full in the ultimate destruction of the enemy.

President Harry S. Truman

And we never forget which nations fought by our side.

Freedom Wall

Field of Gold Stars

Here we mark the price of freedom

Each star signifies 100 American soldiers’ deaths. There are 4,000 there for World War II. Since September 11, we have been slowly approaching 20.

The inscriptions can be found at www.wwiimemorial.com/archives/factsheets/inscriptions.htm

Mr. Mullen teaches classics and public speaking at Bard College.