Crossposted from Town Called Dobson & My Left Wing
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Maybe I’m a wuss, but every time I think about the Vietnam Memorial I cry. When looking at references photos for the wall, I cried. When I visit, I cry.
I was born in 1963, never knew anyone who died in the conflict, never had a close family member go to Vietnam, but I have met many many vets and one was a very influential employer during my youth. And yet I weep.
And the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was 43 years ago.
What will our children be doing on September 11th, 2044?
If you’re a wuss that makes two of us.
Like you, I was just barely too young (born 1959) to know anyone over there. But what I cry for is even bigger than for those who died – I cry for the loss of innocence of the nation, on a scale unseen since the Civil War. And that in a mere 25 years the lessons have been forgotten so completely by those in power (if they ever learned them) that we’re doing the same damned thing over again…
Our leaders fought against the 60’s revolution. They were IN the camp of conformity. They were cheering for McCarthy. They also never went to war and even went to extremes to avoid it.
Maybe the 60’s never ended?
One of the oddest moments of my life….
I’m likewise too young to have actually been part of the war, but at one time when one of the Moving Walls was through here, I was down making photos for the local paper (with backdoor copies to several VFW posts and the like – you do what you can, y’know?) and, while I was walking from one area to another I glanced over at the wall as I passed… you know how words you’re used to seeing will sometimes jump out at you?
I have a namesake on the Wall.
I still haven’t quite gotten my own head sorted on that one, and I’ve never been to DC to see it, but I think I have to at some point.
But I will never again take being alive for granted.
I am a Vietnam veteran. In that wall I find the most stirring monument on the earth. That dark scar on the planet is as fitting a memorial as I can imagine. And yes the tears are flowing as I write just now. Thinking about the wall or visiting brings thoughts of so many dead and wounded fellow men. The tragedy does not diminish with time. Thank you for understanding just what so many feel.