Gettysburg - Silence and Respect

Eight years ago, I passed through Dahlgren, VA for a navy school and at that time I dreamed for the first time of honoring those fallen soldiers who fought as elders against youngsters, man against man, and, sadly, as brother against brother in a civil war that brought this nation, this country to its knees of sorrow, tears, and blood shed. Eight years later, I finally fulfill that dream with my wife and son on the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg National Military Park.


You can walk or even drive the hallowed grounds where you will find scores of people reading monuments, the epitaphs on grave stones, the brass etchings on statuaries, and touching the cannons and artillery displayed across the Gettysburg Battlefield from years ago. For many, however, you see them in a state of "silence and respect" paying honor and perhaps even saying their prayers thanking them for fighting a civil war that would ironically unite this nation once again. In a mindset of humility you wonder what it was like for the soldiers who fought in this four day battle while at the same time trying to listen to the whispers of their voices and the sounds of rifle and artillery fire that would rise from the hallowed grounds we honor.


For us as a family, it took us two and a half days to take it all in while realizing that it was still not enough time to truly appreciate the park and what it represented. We made the most of it by exploring the museums, experiencing the theater movie, seeing the cyclorama (a 360-degree panoramic view as a tribute to Pickett's Charge), driving the 24 mile car route of Gettysbury Battlefield with the occassional "get out of the car and look", and parking alongside the road to walk the almost two-mile stretch of battlefield that culminated into what is known as Pickett's Charge.


Yes, eight years is a long time to fulfill a dream, but it was eight years well worth the wait to not only experience it for myself, but to experience it with my family which made it all the more worth while. Gettysbury National Military Park is a site to behold, but it's also a site to shed a tear in memory, in honor, in tribute of fallen soldiers from both past, present, and future. GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!

"The Great Emancipator"

Little Warrior, "Ian" I think he might believe he is in the movie, "Braveheart"

President Eisnenhower's home, he lived closed to the battlefield and had a passion for Civil War History and would often give tour.