Are Lake Saint Louis officials doing right by changing memorial plaques?
A new veterans’ memorial park in Lake Saint Louis is just opening — but opening to controversy. Apparently, part of the planning for Veterans’ Memorial Park included memorial plaques that summarize the wars that the United States has been part of.
Those plaques include sections for “mistakes” and “consequences.” Our story points out:
For example, the “mistakes” portion of the plaque entitled “Global War on Terror, 1997—Present” read, in part: “As of 2007, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars failed to enable viable governments leading to continued guerrilla fighting. The Iraqi Army was quickly crushed but the U.S. disbanded the Iraqi Army and removed civilian government employees belonging to the ruling political party leaving no one to help maintain security or run the country, which was contrary to policy used after WWII in Germany and Japan.”
Under “consequences,” it said: “U.S. was accused of a Crusade against Muslims which caused riots all over the Muslim world. Pakistan became an opportunistic ally of the U.S. in its Afghanistan war. U.S. lost prestige around the world.”
Our story also says, “Ralph Barrale, an Army veteran of World War II, said the text was a collaborative effort among some members of the volunteer committee of veterans. He said he was not offended by the plaques but added the park is not meant to cause controversy.” The committee agreed to remove the plaques and rework the text.
The park will be dedicated May 17. Should the city make changes in the plaques or is the additional text appropriate for a veterans’ memorial?
(2 votes, average: 3 out of 5)
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Kurt is the director of social media for the Post-Dispatch, where he has worked since August 2002. He's been a journalist since 1982, covering municipal government, courts, education and two hurricanes as a reporter before becoming an editor. 
They should leave off Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom whatever the current conflict is called until it is concluded. No plaque.
Why not some include a statement about ” recognizing the brave men and women serving overseas in our armed forces”, or something equally neutral and inclusive? Heck, if I were in the Afghani campaign, or Bosnia, or Serbia, or Somalia, or even Germany any other half a hundred overseas posts, I’d be rather irked to be left out while the Bushes wars against Saddam was given top billing.
No slam on people who have/are serving there, but there is no text which can fairly assess a volatile political and live fire situation until the shooting is over.
(I know, technically the Korean conflict isn’t over yet, either, but it’s been 54 years since large numbers of US forces have been doing anything but walking the Korean DMZ. As far as most people not related to 1950s Korea vets, or current personnel in the DMZ are concerned, it is over, since what they have is an uneasy peace. )