.jpg)
Sept. 6, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: In quiet grove of trees lie in repose those who gave their “the last full measure of devotion” for a cause which today many find repugnant.
Standing watch over them is a silent sentinel created by a veteran of that war which reminds all the cost of that conflict.
Now, a federal commission to rename federal military bases named after Southern military leaders of that war wants to rip the dressing off covering the wounds of that war by removing this monument (the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery). A war the monument was designed to heal.
To again expose the political and cultural wounds of that conflict. It does not have to be so. This monument and those buried at this site have nothing to do with the current troubles in our nation.
Long ago, both sides in that war, reached out to their former enemies, and restored the nation whole. This monument reflects a bygone generation’s remembrance and sacrifice of those who gave their all.
This monument has now become the site of a great conflict of that long ago war and about the soul of our nation.
The naming commission was properly tasked to remove the names of the leaders of the rebellion from military installations in the U.S.
They were not asked to remove this monument which stands silently over the graves of those who fought for the South, including Moses Ezekiel, its sculptor.
Instead, we should allow the monument and its creator to continue to lie peacefully in Arlington cemetery.
Do not be mistaken, by leaving this statue we are not condoning the cause for which they fought but, instead, seek to adhere to the principle so eloquently stated by George Santayana, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” HANK FORESMAN Fishersville
