Heroes And Icons

They thrilled us and brought tears to our eyes. And we shaped our lives with the lessons of their fervor and folly, their tragedies and triumphs

The full moon, brilliant on a cloudless night, can humble even the most heroic of monuments. By Manhattan's Central Park, the seven American soldiers seem frozen in World War I. The men in the middle of the squad have bayonets ready for battle. One is injured but willing; another, caught in the arms of a comrade, is in the swoon of death. PRO PATRIA ET GLORIA--"For country and glory"--their motto reads in granite, barely legible. The infantrymen rise 15 ft. above the ground, an altitude that is microcosmic from the distance of the Sea of Tranquility. SIC TRANSIT GLORIA? As much...

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