It would seem fitting that somewhere near Temple Square in SLC a Memorial Wall should be created for the Missionaries who die in the line of service. The placing of the names would provide due recognition of the sacrifice and a place of pilgrimage. Does the LDS faith have a place of recognition for those who die in service?

Here is background on the development of the revered Vietnam Memorial Wall. Note references to the power of names and the ability to touch a name.

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2000/nov/02/making-the-memorial/



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 04:13AM by unabashed.

It'd work nice with Gilgal, slowly dropping below ground level to the left of the JS sphinx.

http://www.utahgothic.com/tour/gilgal.html

That is very cool! I bet the fourth photo down is Zelph.

Problem is they would include men such as Pratt.

A wall honoring those that have died while on a mission will never happen for one simple reason, it would be be in direct competition with awesome worship of the 15.

+1 - Absolutely correct.

It would only stand as a reminder that god doesn't protect those sent to do his will. Pretty pathetic for a deity.

"Puny god!"

personally, I think this is a great idea. There is a Veteran's Memorial wall down by the river where I live. We have a major Naval Base here so everything military is special.

I've visited the wall a couple of times. Very moving. And a great comfort the the grieving families as well.

;o)

I think morg parents and kids shouldn't be set up to see missions as more heroic than they already are.

If they started listing all the missionaries killed in service, it would remind parents that this is not a game. Some of them might have second thoughts about sending their children to countries like Mexico that are ravaged by drug wars and rampant poverty.

You desecrate the memory of those American Soldiers who dies comparing them to the deluded fools who go on missions.

Good point, actually.

;o)

Shannon, I don't think your comparison was out of line. Of course someone who dies while serving in the military died in different circumstances than someone who is on the errand of the LDS Church, but in both cases some poor family is in agony over that loss. In my opinion, memorializing the lost life of a son or daughter who died on a mission is in no way "desecrating" the memory of any of the soldiers. Yes, these types of memorials are often constructed to honor those who have fallen, but since those people aren't here anymore to accept that honor or to see that wall/monument/whatever, of just as much importance in the reason these are constructed is what you pointed out: to try to provide some sort of comfort to those who are so acutely grieving the loss.

These kids were loved and are missed just like any other person would be whether they were on a "fool's errand" or not. Their families hurt just like any other family would hurt when their loved one is taken from them.

I don't have an opinion on whether such a wall for missionaries should be constructed or not. I just have an opinion that pain is pain and loss is loss no matter what the circumstances of that loss were. We are all human and we all hurt even if we disagree on things such as religion. I liked your post, shannon.

doesn't mean they are all heroes. Missionaries are greatly loved and missed, but they didn't do good during their missions.

I don't know. I see your point and agree that dying on a mission does not make anyone a hero. If anything, it's almost more a senseless loss of life if it happens spreading Joseph Smith's big made up story than if it happens doing something not based on a lie. But I don't think it should be a rule that you can only memorialize someone if they qualified for a rigid definition of what "hero" means. I have kids and neither of them have served in the military or gone on a mission. But they are my heroes! In small ways they have made the lives of others better by little kindnesses and by the generally nice people they are. In big ways they have made my world better simply by being who they are and being in my life, and in my book they absolutely are heroes (not that I expect others to feel as intensely about that statement as I do or to have any interest whatsoever in visiting or helping pay for any monument I might decide to build to honor them)!

I know that most LDS parents would equate dying on a mission to hero status in large part because of what the kid was doing at the time they died. On a purely individual level, the idea of that does bug me because it wasn't the mission that made them heroes and it's a little scary to think about further glorifying going on a mission because at least if you end up becoming an accidental martyr while on your mission you'll be "a hero" for eternity. But just on a raw human level, I would not personally have a problem with them memorializing their loved one in whatever way gave them comfort and don't see how honoring one deceased group of people "desecrates the memory" of fallen soldiers (unless the missionary memorial is paid for by tax dollars or something...). That was all I was saying, that I think healing for the survivors is more important than defining who is or is not worthy to have their name etched on a wall somewhere. But I do get and agree with what you are saying.....it's not the fatal accident while on a mission that makes these kids loved and worth remembering.

A monument for missionaries only would encourage a hero worship that would not reflect their accomplishments or their lives.

Would it help some parents heal? Perhaps, but based on a lie they'd regret if they eventually left the church. It would also cause rifts if not everyone in the family felt the same about the mission program. Better to let families and close friends deal with comfort and monuments for their lost loved one. Not all families would want to have this kind of recognition.

It could be erected with private funds on private land, with an invitation to anyone who has ever lost a loved one on a mission to contact and let them know, and the owner of the wall could put the name on.

After their death, they could give the Missionary Wall, with long term funding upkeep to a charitable organization that would keep it and not destroy it.

If enough people knew of it, it probably would not be destroyed after death.

Oh, that's how things can be made without the TSCCs approval; privately, and over someone's dead body.


In the meantime, a pamplet could be printed up for distribution with all the names; or a blog sight for grieving parents to read and know their fallen child was not alone.

Sounds a bit like idolatry.

michaelc1945 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds a bit like idolatry.


Care to explain this thought?

These individuals went on their missions, for the most part, not seeking recognition for their labors. They were going to spread the word of God. Personally, I think the word they are spreading is not true and for that reason I left the church, but these young people do believe what they are doing is a work that is glorifying God. A monument to them gives them the glory, not God, and so this monument becomes, for some, an idol to revere and takes away from God the glory for which they died.

There is a memorial for Christian Missionaries killed in the Boxer Rebellion at Oberlin College. Very nice design.

http://www2.oberlin.edu/175/didyouknow-memorial.html

And here is Peace Corps "Internet" Memorial:

http://fpcv.org/fallen-pcvs/

Missionary deaths due to illness or accidents, etc were 10 in 2013, according to an article I read.
That is 10 out of 77,00, it said.

They do not memorialize individuals serving in the LDS Church. It is not part of their traditions.
They are memorialized by their families.

I found this list. It goes back to the 1800's.

http://mormonism-unveiled.blogspot.com/2009/10/partial-list-of-lds-missionaries-who.html



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 01:25PM by SusieQ#1.

I dont think that dying fighting for your country makes you a hero either. If I have learned anything from my awakening from mormonism it is this. Culture, nationalism/patriotism can be just as much as a religion as believing in Joe Smith or the Pope. Vietnam was not fought to protect american freedom. Iraq and afganistan were not fought to protect american freedom. No war since ww2 could possibly be justified as having the intent of protecting freedom. If you die in "service" of your country, I think that you have commited a brave and selfless act, albeit depending on the cause a misguided one. Serving a mission and dying for what you believe in is not much different in principal from dying in war. Both parties were fighting for a cause they believed in and both were manipulated by an authority above them.

I am an atheist, but I still do believe in one thing that the church teaches, that we are all brothers and sisters on this planet, children of the same mother, our earth. War is a dog shit proposal. We should honor our fallen brothers and sisters in the military for the sacrifices that they made just as we should honor the sacrifices made by our brothers and sisters in mormonism. They got a shitty deal by dying for a less than noble cause

The church would never allow for a memorial to be constructed because it would be "negative". It would bring light to how many actually have died during the mission. As posted earlier it would bring into doubt those "protective powers" that the spirit bestows onto active missionaries.

A funny thought
When I was a missionary I nearly got myself run over by a bus crossing a busy intersection. The mirror shattered on my back and sent me flying through the air. I was thankful to be alive, but there was a part of me that almost wished that the bus had taken my life, because I thought that had I died in the line of service to my god, eternal life would automatically be mine and I wouldnt have to continue "suffering" through this life. It makes all too much sense how a poor moslem kid could get sucked into bombing and killing

Memorialization in the USA has evolved from the sterile austere style of the post-WW2 period to a much more robust and personal style. Notice how cemeteries have become much more friendly for personal markers and visits by surviving families, etc. Also as the nation becomes more diverse, we are seeing the importation of other grieving traditions into our culture - note the white crosses along highways where families members have been killed. I noticed that in Mexico in the early 1980s. Unknown here until about ten years ago.

That's a very interesting link. The model used by the Peace Corps group would be most fitting. A physical memorial might place a burden on families to believe they have to bear the expense of traveling to the memorial.

The American Way of death and dying evolves.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/25/2014 01:52PM by unabashed.

I remember seeing crosses in Montana along the highways back in the late '50s.

U'd think that parents/families would be behind such an idea, but the Morg effort to raise apathetic Sheeple is nearly 100% effective.

Just seeing it in pictures or on TV makes me cry.

Too many of the names on it are boys that I went to school with or knew from the neighborhood. "Boys" who should be attending our class' 50th reunion next year.

Boys like Jimmy, who was my buddy in 2nd grade. His favorite toys were the green plastic "Army men" you could buy in a cellophane bag for less than a dollar. All Jimmy ever aspired to be was an "Army man." He was killed in action over there, and his name is on that dreadful wall.

RIP Jimmy, along with all the others.

Many of us know friends and schoolmates on "the wall."