Posted on 11/09/2002 10:44:11 AM PST by SAMWolf
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
My fellow Americans,
Memorial Day is a day of ceremonies and speeches. Throughout America today, we honor the dead of our wars. We recall their valor and their sacrifices. We remember they gave their lives so that others might live.
We're also gathered here for a special event -- the national funeral for an unknown soldier who will today join the heroes of three other wars.
When he spoke at a ceremony at Gettysburg in 1863, President Lincoln reminded us that through their deeds, the dead had spoken more eloquently for themselves than any of the living ever could, and that we living could only honor them by rededicating ourselves to the cause for which they so willingly gave a last full measure of devotion.
Well, this is especially so today, for in our minds and hearts is the memory of Vietnam and all that that conflict meant for those who sacrificed on the field of battle and for their loved ones who suffered here at home.
Not long ago, when a memorial was dedicated here in Washington to our Vietnam veterans, the events surrounding that dedication were a stirring reminder of America's resilience, of how our nation could learn and grow and transcend the tragedies of the past.
During the dedication ceremonies, the rolls of those who died and are still missing were read for 3 days in a candlelight ceremony at the National Cathedral. And the veterans of Vietnam who were never welcomed home with speeches and bands, but who were never defeated in battle and were heroes as surely as any who have ever fought in a noble cause, staged their own parade on Constitution Avenue. As America watched them -- some in wheelchairs, all of them proud -- there was a feeling that this nation -- that as a nation we were coming together again and that we had, at long last welcomed the boys home.
"A lot of healing went on," said one combat veteran who helped organize support for the memorial. And then there was this newspaper account that appeared after the ceremonies. I'd like to read it to you "Yesterday, crowds returned to the Memorial. Among them was Herbie Petit, a machinist and former marine from New Orleans. `Last night,' he said, standing near the wall, `I went out to dinner with some other ex-marines. There was also a group of college students in the restaurant. We started talking to each other. And before we left, they stood up and cheered us. The whole week,' Petit said, his eyes red, `it was worth it just for that.'"
It has been worth it. We Americans have learned to listen to each other and to trust each other again. We've learned that government owes the people an explanation and needs their support for its actions at home and abroad. And we have learned, and I pray this time for good, the most valuable lesson of all -- the preciousness of human freedom.
It has been a lesson relearned not just by Americans but by all the people of the world. Yet, while the experience of Vietnam has given us a stark lessor that ultimately must move the conscience of the world, we must remember that we cannot today, as much as some might want to, close this chapter in our history, for the war in Southeast Asia still haunts a small but brave group of Americans -- the families of those still missing in the Vietnam conflict.
They live day and night with uncertainty, with an emptiness, with a void that we cannot fathom. Today, some sit among you. Their feelings are a mixture of pride and fear. They're proud of their sons or husbands, fathers or brothers who bravely and nobly answered the call of their country. But some of them fear that this ceremony writes a final chapter, leaving those they love forgotten.
Well today, then, one way to honor those who served or may still be serving in Vietnam is to gather here and rededicate ourselves to securing the answers for the families of those missing in action. I ask the Members of Congress, the leaders of veterans groups, and the citizens of an entire nation present or listening to give these families you help and your support, for they still sacrifice and suffer.
Vietnam is not over for them. They cannot rest until they know the fate of those they loved and watched march off to serve their country. Our dedication to their cause must be strengthened with these events today. We write no last chapters. We close no books. We put away no final memories. An end to America's involvement in Vietnam cannot come before we've achieved the fullest possible accounting of those missing in action.
This can only happen when their families know with certainty that this nation discharged her duty to those who served nobly and well. Today, a united people call upon Hanoi with one voice: Heal the sorest wound of this conflict. Return our sons to America. End the grief of those who are innocent and undeserving of any retribution.
The Unknown Soldier who is returned to us today and whom we lay to rest is symbolic of all our missing sons, and we will present him with the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration that we can bestow.
About him we may well wonder, as others have: As a child, did he play on some street in a great American city? Or did he work beside his father on a farm out in America's heartland? Did he marry? Did he have children? Did he look expectantly to return to a bride?
We'll never know the answers to these questions about his life. We do know, though, why he died. He saw the horrors of war but bravely faced them, certain his own cause and his country's cause was a noble one; that he was fighting for human dignity, for free men everywhere. Today we pause to embrace him and all who served us so well in a war whose end offered to parades, no flags, and so little thanks. We can be worthy of the values and ideals for which our sons sacrificed -- worthy of their courage in the face of a fear that few of us will ever experience -- by honoring their commitment and devotion to duty and country.
Many veterans of Vietnam still serve in the Armed Forces, work in our offices, on our farms, and in our factories. Most have kept their experiences private, but most have been strengthened by their call to duty. A grateful nation opens her heart today in gratitude for their sacrifice, for their courage, and for their noble service. Let us, if we must, debate the lessons learned at some other time. Today, we simply say with pride, "Thank you, dear son. May God cradle you in His loving arms."
We present to you our nation's highest award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, for service above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy during the Vietnam era.
Thank you.
STEPHEN LEE BRADDOCK, R.I.P.
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