{"id":103505,"date":"2020-05-24T10:00:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-24T10:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/24\/their-forever-age\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T11:28:45","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T11:28:45","slug":"their-forever-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/commentary\/2020\/05\/24\/their-forever-age\/","title":{"rendered":"Their forever age"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cI am tired and sick of war. Its glory is all moonshine. It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, for vengeance, for desolation. War is hell.\u201d<\/i> \u2013 William Tecumseh Sherman <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arlington National Cemetery, Section 60. From a distance, the headstones all look the same. Their symmetry reflects the military\u2019s precision and seems at first to confer near anonymity on the souls of those who rest beneath them. Walking in their midst, however, and reading the names inscribed in bold black letters on white marble, one feels their individuality emerge. The inscriptions are simple: name, dates of birth and death, a military operation they engaged in, an award. At the top of each stone is etched a cross, a Star of David, a crescent moon and star, or some other symbol of religious affiliation. Simple. Orderly. Dignified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As one makes the calculations that the pairs of dates encourage, the ages of each strike fiercely home. Just shy of 21\u2014 not yet old enough to buy a beer, yet able to wield a weapon of war on behalf of his country. Forty \u2014 awaiting the birth of twins due soon after returning from deployment. Thirty-two \u2014 a newly promoted major, 10 years into a planned life of service in uniform. Twenty-two \u2014 nearing the end of an enlistment, a college acceptance letter in hand. Scores more interred at the pristine grounds of Arlington National Cemetery \u2014 and at other national cemeteries in the United States, as well as at grounds maintained by the U.S. Battlefield Monuments Commission<\/a> in Europe, northern Africa, and southeast Asia \u2014 tell similar tales of lives cut short in service to their country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tombstones tell us their \u201cforever age.\u201d The age they were when parents, a spouse, children and siblings learned that the smiles and hugs exchanged with their loved one before they shipped off to war would indeed be the last \u2014 forever. <\/p>\n\n\n\t