'The Wall' honors Vietnam vets for 20 years

Air Force Link ^ | 11/07/02 | Unknown

[SAMWolf]

'The Wall' honors Vietnam vets for 20 years

Thousands will gather at the National Mall in the coming days to witness and participate in ceremonies marking the 20th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The weeklong remembrance began with a musical tribute to Vietnam veterans Nov. 6 and will end with a Veterans Day observance Nov. 11. In between, more than 1,000 volunteers will read the names inscribed on "The Wall," starting at 3:30 p.m. Nov. 7 and ending at midnight Nov. 10.

It is only the third time in The Wall's history that all 58,229 names will be read aloud. Volunteers, each reciting an average of 30 names, will read for about 19 hours each day Nov. 8-10. The full list of names was read in 1982 as part of the memorial's dedication and again in 1992 during activities commemorating the memorial's 10th anniversary.

Master Sgt. Angeline Robinson, the Pentagon's vice president of the Washington Area Top 3, will attend a reading for the second time, although this will be her first as a participant. She attended The Wall's 10th anniversary reading, and obtained a "wall rubbing" on behalf of her boss at the time, Adm. David E. Jeremiah, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The name of Jeremiah's nephew was one of those being read.

"When I remembered that, this year's reading became very significant to me," she said. "I decided to participate because it's a way to honor those who went before us."

Thirty-four Air Force members from the Washington Area Top 3 will read 540 names, beginning at 11:24 p.m. Nov. 8.

"It's a way for us to give back," Robinson said. "It's as simple as that."

For some, though, the symbolism of reading the names on The Wall goes deeper. One of those is Bao Nguyen, a Vietnamese-American who was once jailed by the North Vietnamese, later served as a South Vietnamese Army officer, and currently works at the Pentagon on the Air Force Chief Information Officer's staff.

"Each year (on Veterans Day), I have a need to express my gratitude to all American veterans in general, all the Vietnam veterans in particular, and to the more than 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for their sacrifices to defend the freedom of a people in a place they hardly knew," Nguyen said. "(And it's) not just me alone. Overseas, Vietnamese are forever grateful for those sacrifices."

For more information on the 20th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Web site

[SAMWolf]

Great song Victoria! I always think of "Good Morning Vietnam" when I hear that song.

[wimpycat]

Back during highschool years and a few years after, I was dating a guy in my hometown whose dad had done 3 tours of duty in Vietnam, one as a door gunner, if I remember correctly. My boyfriend's parents were long divorced, but I met him a few times when he came up from Florida to visit. I remember one time we went water skiing in New River, and this being Camp Lejeune, right near the main gate, there were helicopters always flying around, and I remember he never said anything or made any references to anything military, we were all just having fun, but he would look at those helicopters, each and every one that flew by. It was like he was watching them out of the corner of his eye, or glancing at them when he thought no one was looking at him, but I still remember it.

This was right around the time that the movie Platoon came out, and my boyfriend told me he and his brother and his dad went to see the movie, but his dad fell asleep while the movie was playing. He also expressed absolutely no interest in going to see the Beirut Memorial.

From what I gather, he didn't totally fall apart after Vietnam like many did, but it probably cost him his marriage, and he was a big-time drinker (his Austrian/Native-American heritage is a deadly combination as far as alcohol is concerned) and I was told he had the nightmares. He's probably never gone to see the wall, either. I think he's one of those who just doesn't want to bring up the past--at least not for public consumption, anyway.

[redrock]

Thank You...

redrock

[wimpycat]

The one thing you're missing out on as far as Vietnam movies are concerned is that the later ones tend to employ actors who at least look as young as our Vietnam soldiers actually were at the time. I know WWII combatants tended to be a little older than the Vietnam combatants on average, but the WWII movies seem to me to be full of actors all in their 30's! Don't get me wrong, I still like WWII-era movies, but the actors don't look as young as the real ones actually were.

[nicollo]

...I am of the belief that it (and Korea, and for the Soviets Afganistan)allowed the two super powers to fight without it becoming WWIII.

Exactly. Korea, Vietnam, Chile, El Salvador, Afghanistan, Cape Canaveral... these were all Cold War battlefields. You may consider yourself fully deserving of the honor of having won the Cold War. The DC monuments to Korea and Vietnam ought be set around a (living) memorial to Ronald Reagan whose brilliant generalship gave meaning and brought victory to those two "wars."

Nevertheless, these are fitting monuments in the tradition of Stephen Crane's "Red Badge of Courage." This tradition started, of course, with George Washington, who praised his soldiers to no end (affirmed again by Lincoln). It is a uniquely American statement to honor the individuals in this way.

Like I said, I'd prefer a larger, grander affirmation of the purpose of the War, as Americans don't understand it. To attribute Vietnman to nothing is to surrender our dead. I reject this.

In its necessarily inward purpose, the Wall is a marvel, an amazing inspiration. Here's a bit on its symbolism: First, it's shaped like a "V," for obvious reasons, but more importantly for the concave form of that letter. Next, it is built into the ground. When viewed from one side, it is invisible. From the other, it sucks the viewer in; and it is a grave. The one side is the view of Americans from afar during the war; the other is the reality, avoided and unseen on the mainland, equally by those who protested as those who upheld it (the metaphor is particularly apt in terms of the leadership).

Circularity is a central theme, beginnings and ends are mixed and matched. The names of the first and the last dead meet at the middle. Either end is level, and the descent and rise along the Wall are the same. The sense achieved here is that Vietnam came without Americans noticing it, and we departed it the same. It is a demonstration of how America only came to see the war once we were in its midts, then turned its back on it once, even spurning its veterans, as we escaped it. The metaphor is physical: as you walk down the path, the list of the dead that start with a single name double every five feet, until you find yourself standing before a ten-foot wall filled with names. The average age of those names is 19-1/2 years.

I remind folks that were we to construct a similar wall for our enemy, it would be a mile long. Vietnam paid a horrific price for Ho Chi Min. So did we. It is more meaningful to us because we respect every one of those who died. Ours is a nation that greived and turned its back upon fifty thousand dead and hundreds of thousands risking their lives because seven innocents were killed protesting all that. Imagine! Ho Chi Min didn't cry for his dead.

We won. We won.

[With apologies for the rough summary & writing, I must get back to work, and I leave the above as an incomplete draft; I couldn't resist the opportunity to express this. God Bless those who served. God bless those who died in that service.]

[redrock]

"This is free ground. All the way from here to the Pacific Ocean. No man has to bow. No man born to royalty. Here we judge you by what you do, not by who your father was. Here you can be something. Here's a place to build a home. It isn't the land--there's always more land. It's the idea that we all have value, you and me, we're worth something more than the dirt. I never saw dirt I'd die for, but I'm not asking you to come join us and fight for dirt. What we're all fighting for, in the end, is each other."

Joshua Chamberlain

[MistyCA]

Good song, Victoria! :)

[MistyCA]

[Victoria Delsoul]

Glad you liked, Misty.

[MistyCA]

Hey, that was a very special sentiment. thank you for acknowledging a special person in that way :)

[MistyCA]

LOL...funny you should mention that show. No, he was doing security that night. He did get a signed picture of Ann Margret. He was with the 3rd air police squadron on the perimeter inside the base. The 173rd and 1st infantry secured the perimeter and ran operations opposite the Dong Nai River. It would be great to think you may have run into each other while there. :) Did you ever go to the Jupiter Club? He knows you drank that Biere 33! :)

[SAMWolf]

You're Welcome redrock.

[SAMWolf]

Excellent writing nicollo. If that's a rough summary, I'd like to see the finsihed article.

[ArneFufkin]

I'm so glad you are still here on FR.

SuperLorna was afraid of you. Why? Hmmm ... you are beautiful, soulful, funny, kind, girlyriffic and honest.

All that and more. SAM is awesome, and he did the right thing. You were, over long time, ONLY sweet, kind, soulful and thoughtful, and ... that's no violation IMO.

You GO GIRL! LOL!

[MistyCA]

You are very insightful and honest and awesome yourself! :) I was just target shooting with Neil Wright over on another thread and see where you have been doing a little yourself. :)

[CIB-173RDABN]

Hi Misty,

Sorry to say, except for passing each other on the road, it is doubtful we were anywhere near each ohter, Army and Air Force did not mix.

I had just turned 18 when I arrived in country, and did not drink (besides spending most of my tour on patrols).

If he got a signed photo of Ann Margaret, he got closer to the entertainers then I did. ;-)

[CIB-173RDABN]

Nicollo,

You said it better than I.

Thank you.

[CIB-173RDABN]

"I think he's one of those who just doesn't want to bring up the past--at least not for public consumption, anyway.

---

Like I said in an earlier post, dying is easy, living is hard. I would be worried about a person that has participated in war, and it did not have an affect on them.

Fortunately I never turned to drugs are drink for relief form my demons I just learned to live with them, and that is easier done when you push the memories out of your mind.

Perhaps that is one reason I don't watch Viet Nam era war movies.

[nicollo]

Thanks for looking that over. One day it'll be a book.

I've enjoyed this thread, and it's got me inspired for my visit with the Wall today. I'm showing a group of Dutch visitors around. I'm laughing to myself now, for, as they get up this morning and wander to breakfast, they don't have any idea what's about to hit them. I'll start them with Lincoln, they walk 'em straight into the Wall. With the veterans in town, it'll be stamped in their memories forever.

Then I'll stand 'em in front of George Washington's cathedral and lay the great man all over 'em. There'll be the White House to one side, the Jefferson monument to the other, and the Capitol straight ahead. It'll be a stirring ceremony. At that point, they'll start getting dubious about the apotheosis of Washington, and when they do I'll spank 'em with de Tocqueville, just to show that even a Frenchie understood.

They'll be carrying water for Bush by the afternoon...

Be well & God Bless!

[Skywalk]

I wish my father had chosen your path. He was infantry in '70 in Pleiku and Tuy Hoa. He had a substance abuse problem that he beat back at times but never conquered. He was diagnosed as manic depressive, but I wonder if it was just his demons manifesting themselves as part of a bipolar personality.

I remember some of the stories he told and I shall not repeat them, suffice to say they are terrible to hear. He died on October 9th, 1991 a week before his 42nd birthday.

Last night, after drinking a little and having a good deal of fun, I played a few songs and became depressed. I cried for hours remembering him and the untold nameless men who suffered, often unappreciated or despised, to bring freedom to others. I had even contemplated posting a vanity asking for FReeper prayers because I felt so awful. Fortunately, it passed and I can post with a heart unburdened by tears.

Don't let him be a forgotten man in Viet Nam
He comes from the city, the towns and the country
a regular reservist or a draftee
He doesn't like to fight
But he knows his cause is right
He's ready to fight or to die

He doesn't carry a placard, he only carries a gun
And he'll be the happiest when this war is won
He doesn't understand some of the folks back home
And sometimes he feels that he is all alone
Don't let him be a forgotten man in Viet Nam

He fights for your children, so that they may live free
He battles an enemy, that he seldom sees
He says a prayer each night, that he may see the dawn
He lives for the day when he can go back home

Don't let him be a forgotten man in Viet Nam