Roswell Monument a Centerpiece of Memorial Day Tradition
By Al Levine / STAFF
 "The Faces of War • heroic and tragic/ Faces of the past held present in our memories/ Faces of soldiers and civilians - men, women, children - all ages, all colors/ And our own Faces - observers who can never know the entire story/ The whole concealed and reflected by a thin veil of water/ Water representing fears - separation of past and present - a cleansing/ And emerging from the Faces, one soldier stepping toward the Future into a garden/ Stepping toward the next generation - a child - His legacy and ours." -From the Faces of War memorial plaque.
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It was a little bit of selfishness, George Nelson admits now, trying to get a memorial built in Roswell 13 years ago to honor his Vietnam brothers.
Selfishness, pure and simple.
But, oh my, what it’s become: a testament to sharing.
At Monday’s Memorial Day Celebration at the Faces of War sculpture behind Roswell City Hall, every branch of service was remembered, every soldier revered. There were somber moments and there were moments that uplifted everyone at the Southeast’s largest Memorial Day event.
It has become more than Nelson and a few of his fundraising buddies ever envisioned. All they wanted was to create a permanent symbol of acknowledgement for Vietnam veterans who had come home decades ago to indifference. What they got was a place for soldiers of every conflict to share their story.
“What it was really about, to be very honest with you, it was really very selfish on our part,” Nelson said, “because it was really closure for us Vietnam veterans. Closure with our buddies. This was to be the least we could do for them. It was selfish. It was about us when we got started, but as it went on it became a memorial that opened up to all military personnel. It acknowledges service, starting from the Revolutionary War right up to current day.”
The celebration has flourished as a unified effort of the Roswell Rotary Club, the Roswell East Rotary Club and the city of Roswell.
Monday’s ceremony unfolded with a soundtrack that went from “Amazing Grace” played on bagpipes to TAPS played by bugler Rafael Picklesimer to a good-time, come-get-yo-barbeque concert by Banks and Shane.
In between that variety of notes, fallen heroes were saluted, old vets shared their memories and a married military couple laid a wreath in front of the Memorial.
Lt. Eugene Knight served in the U.S. Army Air Corps 386 Bomber Group nicknamed “The Crusaders.” His squadron Commander dropped the last bombs clearing Utah Beach on D-Day for the landing of the American Infantry 4th Division.
His wife, Pamela, was drafted at 18 into the British Navy. She commanded a barge that transported Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and Field Marshall Montgomery to destroyers in the Slapton Islands exercise theater in Devonshire. She piloted the craft delivering sailing orders to landing craft carrying the American Infantry 4th Division the day before D-Day, without knowing what those orders actually contained.
David Young, the event chairman, chuckled as he recalled Mrs. Knight’s request before typing up her bio. “She said, ‘Now Dave, I want you to write this up and I want you to get it right because I did something maybe important,’” Young said.
“I said I think being in charge of delivering the sailing orders for the Infantry 4th division to land on Utah Beach the day before D-day was fairly important. Of course, back then she never knew what those orders contained. It was still top secret.”
Nelson has attended every one of these ceremonies, and he likes to collect stories of his experiences.
“There was a woman from Marietta who came after one ceremony, and she was holding a rock in her hand,” Nelson said. “She said, ‘Where can I put my rock?’ I just thought that was kind of odd. I said, well put it up at the face of the memorial. That’s where all the people put their memorabilia and their letters and their pictures of the people that they’re remembering. She thanked me with tears in her eyes and then left. Then I realized that she was Jewish, and the rock represents the acknowledgement and thankfulness for the person that the rock is being placed by.”
Nelson, who was a Marine infantry company commander during his five-year stint, said helping to get the memorial built was “other than my family, the best thing I’ve done in my life.
“I personally have gotten a lot out of it. It was a big help for me for closure. It really did close off that period of our history that was so misunderstood, when we lost over 58,000 young men and women over a political war.
“I’m just so happy that things have turned out the way they have. Although I’ve got to tell you, three or four years ago, there were four of us sitting there. And they always give us preference seating in the front, and they always introduce us to the attendees. We were sitting there and one of the guys said can you believe what has become of what our original idea was, when all we were really trying to do was build a memorial and recognize by name all of our buddies? And we said ‘unbelievable,’ as we looked out with all those people there. We said we’d never believed it would ever be anything like it is.”
Wes McCann probably can’t believe it, either. Nelson calls McCann the driving force behind the fundraising effort that brought this dream to life. McCann, who still flies for Delta, is another Vietnam vet who never misses a Memorial Day observance in Roswell but prefers to stay in the background and just listen to the stories.
He said that is the real value of the memorial he helped build.
“There’s a historical view,” McCann said. “It just tells the history of the country. But also, it’s a way of healing for veterans and their families. I just finished reading a very interesting book called “On Combat” by David Grossman, a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and he’s talking about how the human body reacts to extreme stress such as in a combat situation. He goes into a lot of detail, which was right on point with what I experienced, and I’ll bet George Nelson experienced similar reactions. He said one of the things that helps people get over the stress and either avoid or minimize post-traumatic stress is to tell the story, talk about it.
“When George came out of the Marine Corps and when I came out of the Army, we didn’t have the benefit of any of this research and training, and so we never talked. And I’ll bet most of your World War II-era veterans never talked.
“Part of what that memorial is: it’s just to help tell the story. I think it’s so important, historically, to remind people of sacrifices to make this such a great country. A lot of family members never hear the story.”
Prior to Monday’s observance, McCann was preparing to experience a wide gamut of reaction.
“The day is uplifting,” he said. “It’s a number of things. Emotion gets tied up into it sometimes, particularly last year when they were talking about a young Marine that was killed. His family’s sitting right there. Thirty-six years ago, that could have been me. That’s a little hard to take.”
He’s also there to applaud the World War II veterans, who stand in recognition and receive an ovation each year at the event.
“Yeah, that brings a little lump to my throat,” McCann said. “They represent the best. And for a short period of my life, I was one of them. And at some point in the not too distant future I’ll be one of those old codgers standing up and everything. It’s like this brotherhood. Most of these guys I don’t know but we’re part of a brotherhood. It’s something I’m very proud of.”
The plaza approaching the memorial is lined with bricks, engraved with the name, rank and conflict of soldiers who have served and died for their country. Every brick tells a story, and McCann cherishes every one.
“Three quarters up the plaza on the right-hand side, there’s the brick of Pender. I can’t remember the first name because it’s been so long now,” McCann said. “He was killed in action in Vietnam. He was a Navy F-4 pilot, and he was the last pilot killed in Vietnam. His father lives here, and I went over to his house when he donated the brick. He told me all about his son who had been killed 20 years earlier.
“There was another one. Her son was shot five times in Vietnam. Five wounds. He wasn’t expected to live and he spent several years in rehab. He survived, came back to the United States, was discharged and six months later he was killed in a car wreck. But his mother donated a lot of her time to build that memorial. Some of the stories are pretty amazing. Some of them are really happy, some are sad, kind of melancholy.”
Three of McCann’s friends have bricks. Two were killed in Vietnam. One’s missing. He pays his respects a couple of times a year, showing up on a quiet summer evening to sit and reflect.
“It’s just nice to go in there and sit, look and think about stuff. Mainly, I go on Memorial Day and sit back and enjoy the fact that this small group created something that morphed into this really nice celebration. I think the whole city enjoys Memorial Day, especially at this time with all of our soldiers all over the world. People just appreciate it.”
Even with the excellent attendance at the celebration, Young believes more young people ought to be exposed to the veterans and their contributions. “I think it’s very important, especially in our society today, that we try and bring as many young people to the ceremony as possible,” he said, “because I don’t really get a good feeling that a lot of our young people today know what sacrifices were made to allow them to enjoy such freedoms they enjoy today.”
The centerpiece of the plaza, the Faces of War sculpture, drips with symbolism that McCann understands and likes to share.
“Look at the two fingers pointing from the soldier to the little girl,” McCann said. “That came out of the Sistine Chapel, the famous God putting life or touching the humans. The little girl represents two things: innocence and hope for the future. You’ll notice she’s wearing what looks like a dress, but in reality it’s a nightgown. That’s representing her getting up in the morning, starting a brand new day. For the veterans that’s like getting over the war and starting a brand new life with all this behind you. She’s barefoot, to represent innocence and being in flowers and peace.
“And the soldier coming out of the memorial, there’s a questions as to who he is. The girl could be reaching back to her father who was killed; she’s reaching back trying to resurrect his memory. Or it could be that he’s coming back and he’s touching her, his daughter, as part of the future, the new generation coming up.”
The rest of North Fulton celebrated Memorial Day on a somewhat smaller scale.
In Milton, 53 cross-shaped markers dotted Deerfield Parkway in front of city hall in tribute to area-related veterans both living and fallen. It was a project of councilman Bill Lusk, himself a Vietnam vet, who funded the markers privately.
“Memorial Day is not just about barbeques and waving the flag,” Lusk said. “It’s about remembering the heroic actions of those who serve our country, especially those who have paid the ultimate price for our freedom.”
In Alpharetta, American Legion Post 201 continues to work on a Walk of Memories, 7,220 bricks representing Georgia natives who have died in combat since Pearl Harbor. They are being placed around old pieces of artillery and a helicopter.
J.R. “Chief” Wages, who has been spearheading a fundraising effort the past 10 years, said he hopes to dedicate the Walk near Wills Park by Veterans Day in November.