A portion of the Douglas County Memorial of Honor is pictured in front of an American flag flying at the Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 N. Second St. It's one of at least 14 memorials in Lawrence, including the Korean War Memorial, below, that honor the sacrifices of area veterans.

Sometimes, around the American Legion Post in Lawrence, talk turns to what would be an appropriate memorial to remember those who have died in the latest conflict in Iraq.

“The reason I think we’re talking about it,” Post Commander Jerry Hanson says, “is some of us don’t feel the conflict has to be over before you can start remembering. A number of people have given the most they can give – their lives – and we should be doing something official to recognize that sacrifice.”

And thus the often drawn-out, and sometimes contentious, process of creating a war memorial for a new generation of soldiers has begun – even if on an informal basis.

With nearly 4,000 American troops having died in Iraq, and politicians talking about “ending the war” and “bringing the troops home,” some say there’s nothing wrong with starting those conversations now.

“The nation has learned a lesson about treating its war veterans through the experience of what happened with Vietnam veterans,” says Marc Leepson, arts editor for the VVA Veteran, the newspaper for Vietnam Veterans of America. “I think you see it every day. No matter how people feel about the war, they’re still honoring them when they come home. I would think that would turn into memorializing their service. I’m reasonably certain they’re not going to wait.”

Though some local memorials for Vietnam War veterans sprung up across the country during and soon after the war, Leepson says it took much effort from veterans themselves to get the national memorial constructed and dedicated in 1982, 25 years ago this weekend and nearly a decade after the war’s unofficial end.

That dedication spurred construction of similar memorials at the community and state level across the nation, Leepson says. This time around, he’s expecting local plaques and other commemorations to be made before a national effort.

Erv Hodges thinks it will be easier this time around to construct a memorial for Iraq veterans, compared to Vietnam. A Lawrence Marine veteran, Hodges pushed for construction of the Douglas County Memorial of Honor at the Lawrence Visitor Center, 402 N. Second St.

“I think with the Vietnam War, there was a feeling that nobody wanted to do anything with it,” Hodges says. “With this war, there’s great support provided to the soldiers. A great majority of people support those who are serving, even if you may not agree with the war itself.”

Hodges says although no Douglas County residents have been killed in the war, any who were would be added to the list of names contained in a computer kiosk at the Visitor Center.

Hanson, who commands Lawrence’s Dorsey-Liberty Post 14, isn’t sure how long it will take to get an Iraq war memorial started or completed. He notes that a national World War II memorial was dedicated in 2004, nearly 60 years after the war’s end.

“I think the thing that slowed down the World War II thing, from talking to a lot of people, was the idea there were so many people involved at the time,” Hanson says. “It was, for a number of years, that kind of, ‘Well, everybody I know was involved.’ So maybe there wasn’t so much a feeling of sacrifice because they were right there in the community with them.”

When Iraq war memorials do start to spring up, Hanson hopes they include statues of the soldiers.

“Even with the (Vietnam) Wall, they have statues showing people kind of in the pose of being there,” Hanson says. “I think people remember that image more.”

Though Iraq war memorial conversations have begun in some circles, Lee Tafanelli hopes they take time to develop. Tafanelli, of Ozawkie, is a state representative and colonel in the Kansas Army National Guard who spent all of 2005 in Iraq.

“My personal opinion is you have to wait until after the conflict, to have time to reflect and think about what’s appropriate,” Tafanelli says. “You have to think about those who are killed in totality. Each of them, they all have a story.”