Groundspeak Portal

I've got a memorial to US soldiers that died fighting the War with Mexico in 1847.

Do we have a category for that?  It's a big list of soldiers, the Specific Veterans won't work. It's a specific War, so the Non-Specific Veterans won' work either.  And I didn't see anything about Mexico in the sub-categories under War.

It would be hard to create a single category for items such as this. I too have one for Hungary, and I know of another for a country that slips my mind.

How could we include these without it being a "Wars of the World"?

BQ

the blue quasar:

It would be hard to create a single category for items such as this. I too have one for Hungary, and I know of another for a country that slips my mind. How could we include these without it being a "Wars of the World"? BQ

How about "Specific War memorials"? Though, I actually like "Wars of the World".

My GGG-Grandfather died in the War With Mexico. His name was Moses Keith from Polk County Missouri. He died in Taos of Typhus.

I like the idea. Not sure if I'd call it "Wars of the World" since I'd like to focus rather on the victims of wars than just on the war. How about "War Monuments of the World" with a note that we won't accept monuments that have their own, individual category? Every casualty is one too many and there are no little wars. But there were indeed a lot of wars that were overshadowed by the "big" ones and a lot of people died in them (how many people remember the US soldiers that died in places like Panama or Somalia?). And wherever there is a Monument, there should be a way to log it.

Count me in.

Here's the previous thread that covered the idea of a generic war memorial category.

And in my opinion, "War Monuments of the World", while a good name, is a little misleading.  Well, it would be if the category progressed the way I'd prefer, I would want a category that did not include any monuments that had another category to be in...

0ccam:

 in my opinion, "War Monuments of the World", while a good name, is a little misleading. 

Agreed.

 I also did a little bit of reading about the Mexican-American War. I was not aware that this war cost the lifes of 15,000 Americans and 6,000 Mexicans. I now think it absolutely deserves its own category.

That still leaves us with all the others.  There is a category for "Unspecific War Memorials" but what if there really is a monument somewhere for 40 soldiers who died during the invasion of Panama, the 43 soldiers who gave their lives in Somalia, the 32 who died in Bosnia and Serbia or any of the others?

How about a category called "Forgotten Heroes?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_casualties_of_war

I'm just reading about this time period in my history class.  I think its worthy, no matter how small the conflict.  This might include other conflicts or skirmishes that might not count.

Here's a couple ideas:

"Heroes/Veterans of Forgotten Wars" (we would have to define what a war is - do uprisings such as Shays Rebellion in Massachusetts count?  How about conflicts with Native Americans such as the King Philip War, Tippecanoe, and the Black Hawk war in Illinois?)

"Casualties of Civil Uprisings" (this would include those who lost their lives in conflicts such as the Boston Massacre, Shays Rebellion, many of the Civil protests in the 1960s-1970s, labor strikes, etc.  Of course, I'm being American focused; there would be other kinds of uprisings and protests around the world).

Funny that I just stumbled upon this topic as I just submitted a waymark this week that grouped together wars and conflicts and included Panama, Somalia, etc. We have a local memorial that had 4 out of 5 plaques installed for many years (WWI, WWI, Korea & Vietnam) so when I heard that the 5th one was installed I assumed it was going to be for Iraq. But they grouped everything together and left it open ended for future conflicts. (Kind of sad in a way)  It's listed under Non-Specific War Memorials, but it made me wonder about all the other coflicts.
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM62NF
The text reads: "We will never forget the courage and sacrifice of Veterans during the wars of modern American history. We will always remember the more recent conflicts and operations where American military personnel were called to arms, to help people and protect the national security of the United States, in Granada, Lebanon, Panama, Desert Storm, Desert Shield, Somalia, Haiti, the Persian Gulf, Afghanistan, Iraq, and many other places around the world."

Are you thinking that if there was an "Unspecific War Memorial" or "Forgotten Heroes" for lack of better name, that this type of memorial would be listed? Or would it have to be a memorial for only Panama, only Somalia, etc.

And speaking of forgotten battles, the memorial at this waymark http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM47C8 lists over 40 battles. Might be a starting point for those of you creating this category.

I came across one yesterday that was generically worded, but it listed the names of three soldiers with Viet Nam and death year written after them.

it said "For those who made the supreme sacrifice, they helped advance the American Ideal of Liberty to all the oppressed peoples of the earth"

Would this be non-specific (because it names no war in particular)

Viet Nam (Because Viet Nam is implied by the listing of VietNam soldiers)

or Specific soldiers (because three soldiers are listed)

As has been pointed out, this comes up periodically for discussion.   There has not been a good solution  -  yet.

For one thing, stated Waymark policy says that a category should stand on its own merit without reference to existing categories, and should not be defined by exclusion of waymarks that may be included in other existing categories.  That said, there ARE categories that are framed like that -
"we accept these, but not these if they can go in another category."  So either this standard has changed, or is interpreted rather loosely.

What if you create a broad category, and then someone creates a specific category (like for the Mexican American War)?  Do you then stop including them?

It is a little like the U.S. National Park and the National Parks of the World categories.  The latter is an "everything-but" category.

Wording is an issue.   Something like "Minor Wars" seems to denigrate the war and its casualties.  "Forgotten" has a similar negative tone.

Remember that almost every country in the world has had its own wars  -  local, regional, etc.  So, maybe they should be grouped by country or region.

Then there is a problems with the monuments/memorials themselves.  I've seen the U.S. wars in Panama, Grenada, etc. included in the mult-war memorials.  Although these have a place in the Non-specific War category, I think they deserve their own recognition.  So, how to treat these would have to be decided.

Just some more grist for the new category mill.   Let's keep grinding on this one!