Armed Forces Memorial in Norfolk, VA

Located in Town Point Park and on the Elizabeth River, the Armed Forces Memorial in Norfolk, VA is a poignant tribute to the service people in the United States who gave up their lives in war. This memorial is a collection of twenty inscriptions of letters written home by these soldiers who lost their lives. These letters delve deep into the emotions and no one leaves the memorial untouched.

The letters are thin sheets of cast bronze that seem to appear scattered across the ground as if the wind picked them up and carried them. There are benches and seats that are strategically palces to that you can face the waterway during your visit. The Armed Forces Memorial does it job in not letting the public forget those soldiers that have died for our country. These letters are from the Revolutionary War, World War I and II, the Civil War, the Gulf War, the Korean War and even the Vietnam War.

All of the letters from soldiers of these different conflicts have one thing in common: they illustrate to the world that war is not fair and it can be hell. You have to read each of the letters to get the full scope of the emotions that ride these soldiers at war. Some will make you cry while others are so funny they make you laugh. Reading these letters makes you hope and dream that their families are ok. You want to personally end the wars yourself so that no one else has to die. The bottom line is that the Armed Forces Memorial is a beautiful, loving, thoughtful tribute that more people should know about.