REAL DEATH--THE BROKEN AND MUTILATED HUMAN BODIES--MUST BE ERASED FROM MEMORY: We learn about the abstract war, the war of nationalist or ideological sacrifice and endurance, the achievement of some military objective or another; the war that is remembered in one national cemetery or memorial museum. But we must not see the broken and mutilated bodies—the final state of the human being once steel, bomb, bullet or blade meets flesh.

Imagine any national war memorial in Australia, UK or US that dared to prioritize visual displays (historic or artistic) highlighting the sheer carnage of war—not only on soldiers, but on the civilian population who suffer death, atrocity and deprivation? How long would this be tolerated by the political and cultural gatekeepers of the nation-state? In the name of ‘respect’—or for the mental well-being of the potential visitor—the museum would be forced to close such a display. An accurate focus on the horrific results of warfare might overwhelm standard narratives of nationalist sacrifice, brotherly comradery, and courage.

Despite the fact that graphic images of war are easily located and displayed—and are legitimate historic artifacts—real death and killing must be erased from official war remembrance. Death becomes a passive event visited on soldiers by an unknown, alien force; the daily acts of deliberate killing soldiers carry out are best left to implication.