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MAY 25, 2001

CLICKS & MISSES
By Joan Oleck

On the Web, Old Soldiers Never Die
For anyone who needs reminding what Memorial Day is really about, a variety of war-themed sites hail those who answered Old Glory's call


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Memorial Day. A recent editorial cartoon in The Philadelphia Inquirer is a reminder of the ironies that attend a military holiday. In the drawing, gleeful beach goers romp and barbecue burgers -- while above them hovers a cloud bank that resembles the unforgettable image of U.S. Marines raising the American flag on Iwo Jima.

The cartoon's message, of course, is that in the euphoria over getting a day off we often overlook the fighting men and women in whose honor the holiday exists. Which raises the question of how to pay tribute: Watch the Indianapolis 500? Catch the local parade? Give the kids a quick course in wars past?

One other option is to troll the Net, which is rich in reminders of the sacrifices soldiers have made, from the American Revolution to Vietnam to Kosovo. Says Christopher Michel, a Desert Storm veteran and CEO of Military.com: "A lot of people are using the Net to share their stories. The wonderful thing is that people can connect to veterans' firsthand accounts of what happened... They no longer have to read about history just from books."

With more than 150,000 pages and one to 2 million unique visitors a month, Military.com is the mother of war-themed sites, with sections devoted to 40,000 separate military units. And it isn't just a museum. Memorial Day material, featured prominently on the home page, will include accounts of ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery. Regular visitors will also find a "Personnel Locator" that connects military buddies, prompting countless reunions, Michel says.

VIETNAM'S LEGACY.  The site also includes job-placement ("Careers"), veterans assistance ("Resources"), and an "Equipment Guide" to everything from machine guns to aircraft carriers. A particularly emotional feature is the Tribute Page, where visitors can create a remembrance of a relative or friend.

Equally moving is www.thevirtualwall.org, an online representation of the Vietnam memorial in Washington, D.C. The site presents profiles, remembrances, reunion postings, and members-only chat rooms called the "Virtual Wall." Those who need a reminder of why that wall exists might visit PBS' site for its series Battlefield: Vietnam. It includes a history and timeline of the 20th century conflict that most divided the nation, at pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/.

There's plenty to see, as well, on America's most divisive conflict ever: The Civil War, whose effects still reverberate at Gettysburg and Fort Sumter. For one view of the war, check out ibiscom.com/cwfrm.htm, a special section of Ibis Communications Inc.'s "History through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It" site that's devoted to the war between the states.

HEARTS, MINDS, AND HOLLYWOOD.  Fast forward 135 years, and several Web sites also are making hay of this weekend's release of the film Pearl Harbor. The movie's official site, pearlharbor.com, offers an engaging 3-D tour of the U.S.S. Arizona 60 years after it was sunk.

World War II buffs who are more interested in real thing might check out warletters.com, which promotes Andrew Carroll's book: War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence From American Wars, plus his Legacy Project, which is preserving veterans' letters from all U.S. conflicts. The site also suggests techniques for preserving your own letters that Dad wrote Mom from the Battle of the Bulge. Also check out ddaymuseum.org for accounts of D-Day, the turning point of the World War II. And take a look at military.com/Content/MoreContent/?file=rarey_1 for Damon Rarey's cartoon sketches of his daily life as a WW II fighter pilot. Family and friends preserved the unique work of Rarey, who a few weeks after D-Day was killed over France.

The sheer number of other sites devoted to war are a reminder of the violence that marked so much of the 20th century was. Vintage postcards, many from World War I, are posted at geocities.com/dtine6/. For articles about the era itself, go to the "Doughboy Center" at worldwar1.com/dbc/dbc2.htm. If you're interested in Korea, spend an hour reviewing America's "forgotten war" at military.com/Content/MoreContent1/?file=index.

WHERE IT STARTED.  It wasn't that long ago that the older generation was doing "duck and cover" drills as part of the Cold War. Read about that at military.com/Content/MoreContent1/?file=cw_index. And for insights into the most recent hot war, try desert-storm.com for links to a wide variety of sites about the Persian Gulf conflict, from news to info on biological weapons.

If you're old enough, you probably remember when Memorial Day was called Decoration Day. For an explanation of where the idea originated, go to geocities.com/dtine6/. You'll read how Union General John Logan first proclaimed the observance in 1868, during a ceremony to place flowers on the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers at Arlington National Cemetery. You'll also hear a rousing, version of The Battle Hymn of the Republic -- computer-generated, of course.


Oleck, the daughter of a military historian, is a BusinessWeek staff editor who covered Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune for The News and Observer of Raleigh, N.C
 Edited by Bob Arnold
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