Vietnam War Memorial

Vietnam War Memorial
Originally uploaded by steakbellie.

Vietnam War Memorial
If you ever go to Washington DC, you have HAVE TO experience the Vietnam War Memorial. I was a baby when this war finally ended, and I was fortunate enough not to have any relatives go there.

What makes this Memorial so very amazing is that it is a brutally human experience. People are actively mourning at this site.

The Wall consists of 58,195 names of American Killed, engraved in polished black granite. All of the names are listed in the order they were killed. It is heartwrenching when you actually see name after name after name.

Old people kneeled before their sons names weeping. Young children did charcoal rubbings of what must be their Grandfathers names.

People had taped letters and photos to the wall. Flowers left, gifts left. Every day the Parks commision collects these offerings, and the next day new ones come. 365 Days a year. These young Men are not forgotten by their families, by their friends, by their girlfriends.

I didnt speak the entire time because of how choked up I had become. I might be good for my kids to see me cry in some way, but I kept the code of men. I knew I had to say something about what was going on. I had prepared them for what they might see, but hadnt expected to be emotional myself. I managed to tell them "Each of these people had a body, a family, a story, a life."

In six years my oldest will be elegible to die in Iraq. Will I have to come to some new wall that we are building to do a charcoal rubbing of his name? See that boy in the reflection? Thats him. He's as real as the poor boys listed here were.

You should visit this wall. No matter where you are politically, this wall is an education in the realities of war and what our families are dealing with 30 and 40 years later.