I discovered an online war memorial recently called Map of the Fallen. In using it, I couldn’t help but think about some war memorials I have experienced. Map of the Fallen is online and the others are off-line but together they create an experience which is deeper and more meaningful. Memorials are difficult. They intend to remind us of the sacrifice of others but they also easily become part of the background, simply statues or plaques we no longer actually see.

Each year on November 11, our school would gather at the local war memorial and remember those who had fallen in wars. Although I am sure some of those November days must have been sunny, I consistently remember gray skies and cold drizzle. Old men in wheelchairs wearing uniforms and heavy wool blankets on their laps would take the stage, rarely speaking. Instead fifes and drums would play as we shifted uncomfortably, fidgeting with plastic poppies trying to be respectful but not really understanding. Once a year I would think about the soldiers from our community but most other days, the memorial was just another fixture in my small town existence.

More recently the  Highway of Heroes has renewed my experience with war memorials. Each time I see the road side signs or hear of a repatriation service spontaneously encouraging people to go to bridges and overpasses to pay their respect, I am struck by how appropriate the highway is as a memorial. These experiences cause me to remember the people fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq even though those wars are mostly media events for me. I remember that people, mostly young people, are fighting around the world everyday. I don’t want to make too much of a point about sacrifice or patriotism. I have met a lot of soldiers and I have found them to not be necessarily more patriotic or sacrificial than the rest of us. What they are is brave and realistic. They take a job that many of us could not or would not do, which they know will send them to difficult places and they do it. No more and certainly no less. We need to be reminded what they are doing.

Map of the Fallen  as a modern cenotaph takes the memorial experience one layer deeper. I found myself scrolling through the maps and looking for soldiers from Southwestern Ontario. I don’t really know why other than by looking for local soldiers helped me to better connect to events I don’t really understand. I appreciate that Map of the Fallen doesn’t make me feel like a  rubber-necker but rather gives me a sense of the real people fighting overseas. I can see where they fell but also and more importantly, where they lived.

I am frequently on the look out for ways to intersect my online experiences with those off-line, but this one snuck up on me. Driving down the Highway of Heroes reminds me that the while I am not personally impacted by war today, many are. Using Map of the Fallen helps make that experience specific and memorable. Will I look at Map of the Fallen everytime I hear a news report about Iraq or Afghanistan or use the 401?

I doubt it - but I will remember and I think that is exactly what memorials are supposed to do.

Map of the Fallen is a blog and project of Sean Askay that “uses Google Earth to honor the more than 5,700 American and Coalition servicemen and women that have lost their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan…will connect you with each of their stories—you can see photos, learn about how they died, visit memorial websites with comments from friends and families, and explore the places they called home and where they died.”

The 401 from Trenton, Ont., to Toronto was renamed the Highway of Heroes in 2007 to honour Canada’s fallen soldiers.