Memorial

AT: "xx"

For the VOY episode of the same name, please see "Memorial".

A memorial was a ceremony similar to a wake or funeral, where people would pay their respects to a fallen friend or comrade. It is also more traditionally held then a funeral, if the fate of the loved one might be in question and a body is not present to bury. A Memorial can also be a building or monument or a piece of land that people have died on and is considered sacred and/or preserved as a way to honor those who have been killed in either a battle or war or in a brutal way but whose memory people want to preserve even if there are no bodies or the people's bodies have long since withered away over time due to natural environmental causes.

In 2153, a memorial was held on Earth for the seven million people killed in a Xindi attack on Florida and Venezuela. (ENT: "The Expanse")

The San Francisco memorial

In the alternate reality, Captain James T. Kirk presided over a memorial in San Francisco for those killed in 2259 by Khan Noonien Singh and Admiral Alexander Marcus. (Star Trek Into Darkness)

Kirk's 2268 memorial service presided over by Spock.

In 2268, Commander Spock held and presided over a memorial service over a funeral for Captain James T. Kirk when it looked as though he might be dead aboard the USS Defiant as Kirk was lost in the interphase of Tholian space. Spock held this memorial service, despite the objections of Chief Medical Officer Leonard McCoy feeling that a funeral should be held. But Spock thought otherwise due to both no body yet being found and that he didn't want to assume full command of the USS Enterprise, although a bit later Spock and McCoy listened to Kirk's last orders tape -- even though both denied doing so when Kirk was saved and Spock was proven correct that Kirk was still alive. (TOS: "The Tholian Web")

In 2368, a memorial service was held, in Ten Forward on board the USS Enterprise-D, for both Lieutenant Commander Geordi La Forge and Ensign Ro Laren after a supposed transporter malfunction made the rest of the crew believe they were dead. As it turned out, La Forge and Ro were still very much alive just out of phase and invisible to the rest of the crew because some Romulans were using a phase inverter to change their molecular structure and "cloak" themselves in an attempt to hijack the Enterprise-D. La Forge and Ro were unfortunate bystanders in this attempted sabotage by the Romulans. Fortunately, La Forge was able to alert Commander Data to recognize that the over abundance of chronotons on board the ship, left by him, Ro, and the Romulans, were a sign that something was not right and would prove to the rest of the crew that La Forge and Ro were still very much alive. Data and Captain Jean-Luc Picard had Commander William T. Riker flood Ten Forward with anyons to de-cloak and make La Forge and Ro visible, to the rest of the crew, so they could warn them of the attempted hijacking and sabotage by the Romulans. (TNG: "The Next Phase")

Quark held a memorial for Morn on Deep Space 9 in 2374. (DS9: "Who Mourns for Morn?")

The Nakan Memorial monument on Tarakis.

In 2376 in the Delta Quadrant, the USS Voyager discovered a unique monument that served as an equally unique Memorial to the Nakan colonist that were killed in the Nakan massacre on the planet Tarakis in the 21st century. This memorial monument acted as a synaptic transmitter, which emitted a neurogenic pulse that placed memory engrams from the soldies involved in the massacre in the minds of any individuals passing through the Takaris system. This would end up including the minds of Voyager crew members Chakotay, Tom Paris, Harry Kim and Neelix, who with the Delta Flyer had scouted Tarakis for dilithium. Chakotay, Paris and Kim had argued that the monument should be destroyed with Tuvok concurring that would be the logical thing to do. But Neelix vehemently disagreed, arguing that the lessons about the massacre needed to still be learned. After listening to both sides, Captain Kathryn Janeway concluded that the Memorial needed to stay, and despite Chakotay's attempt at arguing with her. Janeway decided, as a student of history that throughout history monuments have been built to remember tragedies. Those Memorials are honored, as the Nakan massacre Memorial should be. Voyager would not shut it down, nor leave it to run out of power. Instead she decided after the crew repaired the transmitter, there would be warning beacons placed in orbit around Tarakis so future passing ships would be informed of the monument's purpose.

The inscription at the base of the Nakan Memorial (translated) read:

Words alone cannot convey the suffering.

Words alone cannot prevent what happened here from happening again.

Beyond words lies experience.

Beyond experience lies the truth.

Make this truth your own.

(VOY: "Memorial")