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| The Moving Wall |
May 02, 2000 |
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Dear Friends,
Washington is a city of monuments. Tall marble columns, carved granite and bronze. Somber faces of great men crafted many times the size of ordinary mortals. But of all the monuments, the one that touches more hearts than any other is depressed into the ground in a grove of trees near the Lincoln Memorial.
The Vietnam Memorial was controversial when it was built 18 years ago. A black granite "V" etched with 58,000 names of Americans who did not return from Southeast Asia. But the controversy faded quickly as the Wall became the place for Americans to remember and to mourn.
At any time of the day or night, you will find people there. Crowds at midday quietly walking by, buddies leaving medals, children placing flowers, families rubbing crayons on paper over names to bring back home. And in the evening, men, middle aged now, sitting on the grass lost in another time. It`s a place for prayers, for tears, and for stories.
Last weekend the Vietnam Veterans of America and others brought the Moving Wall -- a half-sized replica -- to the Veteran`s Park in Albuquerque. I spoke briefly at the opening ceremony on Friday, looking out at the Gold Star Mothers in their white and gold capes, and the veterans in ball caps and aging jungle fatigues, watching the F-16s and A-10s arc over Kirtland with my back to that black granite wall.
I went into the Air Force three years after the fall of Saigon. My first commanding officer was a POW in the Hanoi Hilton and almost all of the
officers and enlisted who taught me to be an officer were Vietnam Vets. They all had stories, and so did the people who visited Veteran`s Park last weekend.
As I was leaving after talking to so many veterans and families a man came up to me. His hair was white now and he wore a simple white cotton shirt open at the neck. He was just an ordinary man. He shook my hand and thanked me
for coming. Then he looked at the ground, his shoulders shaking. Through his tears, he just said, "It`s so hard." He looked over at the wall. "I came back and they didn`t." I gave him a hug and let him cry on my shoulder for awhile, unable to hold back my own tears for him and so many others.
If you see a Vietnam Veteran this week, thank them for serving. As a nation, we never really did.
Wish you were here,
Heather |
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