Our first day in DC was rainy and windy so we did not venture out. Our second day was sunny, cool and breezy. We walked 3/4 mile to the Metro Station in Cleveland Park and rode to Metro Center where we got off and walked along the east and south side of the White House to the Vietnam Memorial. I have been there several times before but never with someone who had been Infantry in Vietnam – “boots on the ground – in the line of fire”. We walked along the Memorial and then found the books that listed the location on the wall of every person killed in Vietnam.
Craig found the names of men in his company who were killed and we located each name on the wall.
Because the names are listed by the dates of death, the names were clustered on 3 panels. While Craig spent time reflecting, people were respectful and gave him space. A lovely docent approached to offer support. After listening to Craig’s recounting of what it was ike to be “out on in the bush” for 6 weeks at a time wearing the same uniform with all of the field gear they carried to try to stay alive, the statues of the infantry moved me. Craig inspected them carefully and found they were pretty accurate in each detail. Many of the “niceties” like air mattresses or heavy flak jackets available to infantry were simply not carried/used in most circumstances to keep packs as light as possible.
We recently watched the Ken Burns 10 part series on the Vietnam War and I now have a much better understanding of how the US got involved and the lies that kept us there for way too long. I graduated from high school the year the US pulled out of Vietnam so aside from being against the war (whatever that meant is small town Iowa) I was uninformed.
I took a photo of each of the names. Later after Craig had a chance to review them he did not like the way they looked with all of the reflections on the walls from the sun. So we went back on our last day in DC which was cloudy. While rain was predicted for the afternoon, it started several hours early and the new photos had a different type of reflection from the rain drops.
This was Craig’s second visit to the wall. The first time, he and his friends waiting until after midnight so he could play and sing a song about the way. We did not try to repeat that this time although I kind of wish we had. If it had been warmer we might have.
Tamara Unleashed 