01.01.2009 was my first visit to our nations capital. After visiting the capital building and walking the length of the mall, seeing Grant's Tomb, the Washington Monument, the new WWII monument I walked my way to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial which some call the "WALL".
Being a Vietnam Veteran, USN, USS Shangri-La, on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin, 1970, I did not know what to expect. I, like many of my generation, had lost friends in that conflict. Steve and Fred, live in my memories to this day. As I approached the WALL the emotion began to well-up inside me and I did not know if I could continue. I stopped, gather my emotions and proceeded.
The walls of black granite hold 58,260 names, I knew 7 of them. I walked from east to west, stopping and just looking at the names, and at times touching them. This was a very moving experience for me and for others old and young. But nothing prepared me for what was to come. At the end of the west wall are the books with all the names and their locations on the wall. As I paged through the book I found my two very good friends, Steve and Fred, at that moment thirty-nine years of hidden emotion and loss poured from me, I broke down, even as I write this my eyes well-up with tears.
No matter your position on the Vietnam Conflict no one can remain untouched by the Memorial. If you can not go to Washington D.C. please visit the traveling Memorial when it comes to your area. Also, please visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall page and remember those many men and women who gave so much for our country.
Being a Vietnam Veteran, USN, USS Shangri-La, on Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin, 1970, I did not know what to expect. I, like many of my generation, had lost friends in that conflict. Steve and Fred, live in my memories to this day. As I approached the WALL the emotion began to well-up inside me and I did not know if I could continue. I stopped, gather my emotions and proceeded.
The walls of black granite hold 58,260 names, I knew 7 of them. I walked from east to west, stopping and just looking at the names, and at times touching them. This was a very moving experience for me and for others old and young. But nothing prepared me for what was to come. At the end of the west wall are the books with all the names and their locations on the wall. As I paged through the book I found my two very good friends, Steve and Fred, at that moment thirty-nine years of hidden emotion and loss poured from me, I broke down, even as I write this my eyes well-up with tears.
No matter your position on the Vietnam Conflict no one can remain untouched by the Memorial. If you can not go to Washington D.C. please visit the traveling Memorial when it comes to your area. Also, please visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall page and remember those many men and women who gave so much for our country.
God rest all of you, you are not forgotten.
cgbjorklund USN Vietnam, 1970
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Visiting the wall is a " must do" when I get to the US. In Australia, we have a Vietnam Veterans' memorial in Canberra. See -
ReplyDeletehttp://vietnam-war.commemoration.gov.au/commemoration/