{"id":1327,"date":"2006-02-10T16:39:47","date_gmt":"2006-02-10T23:39:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.wend.ca\/?p=1327"},"modified":"2021-12-29T20:51:03","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T01:51:03","slug":"arlington-cemetery-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=1327","title":{"rendered":"Arlington Cemetery, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before leaving the Arlington Cemetery for good we decided to go to the Memorial Gate to see the Women In Military Service For America<\/a><\/em> memorial. When we walked through the doors of the gate we also walked into a reception\/memorial for Michael Anthony Jordan. This fast tracked us past the display on women and pushed us to the Faces of the Fallen<\/em> exhibition.<\/p>\n

This was completely overwhelming. There are more than 1300 portraits of those who died in Afghanistan and Iraq — all painted by American artists. Each painting has a little plaque in front of it with the name of the soldier and a few other personal details. What really struck me was how young many of them were; some just 18 and 19 years old.<\/p>\n

The display takes up most of the memorial gate; and, as you walk around looking at the faces you see coins, flags, memorabilia, flowers and personal messages left behind by families and friends. It’s an amazing tribute.<\/p>\n

When we left the cemetery for good I felt as though someone had taken a handful of cotton balls and stuffed them into my mouth. I can’t really verbalize how I felt; but, I kept thinking that somewhere along the way something has been lost… something more than lives.<\/p>\n