Military Park includes National Cemetery Gettysburg National Military Park
Various Locations, US-15
Gettysburg, Adams County
The official visitor center is brand new, dedicated in 2008, and hosts several thousand visitors each day. The curators and managers of the park recommend at least two or three days to fully tour and appreciate the entire battlefield. Even then the visitor is rushing through the highlights of the battle.
But the men that died here should not be viewed as highlights; or lumped namelessly together as they were in mass graves, one hundred and fifty at a time. They should be mourned as the individuals they were, recognized as singular personalities that stepped forward when their national called them to serve. Anything less seems to diminish those who, with each rifle and cannon shot fired, fell upon the fields of this Adams County town.
I choose to present only a few memorials, mostly those found in and near the National Cemetery. The memorial to Albert Wollson, the last surviving member of the Grand Army of the Republic represents the efforts of those veterans who fought not only the battles, but marched home and endured the fight to receive the veterans assistance they had earned with their blood and tears.
For someone that is used to being nearly alone while visiting monuments of all types and sizes, it is unusual and heartwarming to see so many visitors
in front of the cenotaphs, obelisks, and pedastals of the park. I patiently waited in front of the bust of Lincoln upon which is found the text of the
'Gettysburg Address'. A young girl, perhaps ten years old, is crouched in front of the plaque and she is touching each word with a slow and methodical
pace. At first I think that I should stop her with the admonishment that the monument is for seeing, not feeling. I began to step forward as her
hand went back over a phrase and I realized that she was simply trying to fully understand some of the larger words of the speech, as if the tactile experience would help her brain gather it in and untangle the 19th century sentiment for this child of the 21st century.
Throughout the cemetery and the expanded areas of the Military Park the mood is somber. The summer heat may be forcing some to walk slowly, but the expressions found upon the face of each visitor tells the true story. They are shocked at the scope of the carnage. Even without the stench of corpses and clouds of gunpowder drifting upon the air, or the noise of frightened men and panicked horses trying to survive shot and shell, they can envision the battle. This ground, once bloodstained and torn by three days of battle, seems enveloped in sorrow.
The New York State monument is a very tall obelisk adorned with scenes from the battle. That's almost expected, but close inspection of the bas relief figures shows no glory, but impresses the viewer with the compassion felt by comrades for those that have fallen. Men try to catch an officer falling from his mount, others comfort their friends in their last moments even as they struggle with their own pain and fatigue.
I stroll around the outlying areas of the cemetery and quickly realize that soldiers from other generations are also buried here. In fact, it is nearly possible to follow each significant battle of the First and Second World Wars just by pausing to note the dates these assembled men died. The losses at Reims, The Marne, and Montfaucon are all evident here - they are a cross section of the four million men called to war during 1917 and 1918. World War II is fully represented by the casualties from Pearl Harbor, Anzio, D-Day, Guadalcanal, Iwo Jima, and those that fell from the skies over Europe and the Pacific Theater.
I was drawn to one particular gravestone; Pennsylvania native William C. Laffin was a Staff Sargeant in the US Infantry when he fell upon the beach at Normandy on June 6, 1944. He was among 850,000 men that went ashore that day. Almost 4,400 men never got beyond the beach and lie in fields aboard and here at home. I wonder what Laffin did to celebrate June 5th, his last full day on this earth. He was older than most of the 'boys' that embarked upon the transport that evening - his 24th birthday.
If you visit here you may wonder what the small plaques are that dot the Battle of Gettysburg burial area. Each plaque contains part of a stanza from the poem "Bivouac of The Dead" by Kentuckian Theodore O'Hara. He wrote the poem from his experiences in the Mexican-American War of 1846 ahd 1847. By the Civil War it had become a favorite among veterans. When Arlington National Cemetery was established the poem was chosen to adorn the gates to the facility - but the inscription does not carry the authors name, because O'Hara had fought with the Confederate forces during the War of The Rebellion.
Must be your fitter grave;
She claims from war his richest spoil,
The ashes of your grave"
