Memorial glorifies war machinery, not veterans

I was raised in Milltown, and my parents still live there. I relish my biyearly trips to their home, and in the last 20 years or so, I’ve noticed a great deal of change. Some of it is hard to accept, like the sprawl that has eliminated many of the wooded areas that were great for young explorers. Some of it is good, like the restoration of the old Russell Playing Cards/Decorated Metals building into beautiful industrial revolution-era housing, the creation of a hiking path that meanders along the Mill Pond opening up the town’s scenic beauty, and the new and improved borough pool.

However, the last time I visited, I noticed the installation of a military attack helicopter as a war memorial at Joyce Kilmer American Legion Post No. 25 on Washington Avenue and JFK Drive — that’s the object of my concern.

I know that wars have been fought and probably will be fought forever, for reasons that defy sanity, and that the men and women who answer the call are never the ones who started the fighting in the first place. It is not the notion of honoring our veterans that troubles me — they deserve to be honored. What troubles me about this "memorial" are two things.

First, what kind of message does this glorification of the machinery of war send to our children? The display doesn’t put the focus on the brave men and women who have served in the defense of their country, but rather on the tools we use to destroy human life, however necessary or unnecessary that may be from conflict to conflict. It serves merely to perpetuate the illusion of the "glory of war." Somehow, when I’ve talked to men who’ve been in firefights in Vietnam, the glory of killing to avoid being killed has escaped me.

The other disturbing aspect of the establishment of this memorial is that there was apparently no means of measuring the degree of desire of the citizens of Milltown for this type of display. The attack helicopter has become a presumably permanent part of the town’s landscape in a very central location.

Many towns display cannons in their parks or public spaces, and while I’m not crazy about that type of "memorial" either, it hardly compares to an attack helicopter, bristling with armaments and in an attack profile, complete with garish, snarling, painted-on teeth. One would certainly not be out of line to question the appropriateness of such a "memorial," especially in a town that describes itself as a "friendly community."

John Steiner

Albuquerque, N.M.

former resident of Milltown