Viet Nam Veterans Moving Wall Memorial

Veterans, especially Viet Nam era veterans, are folks that I hold in high esteem. I'm partial to the ones that served in Nam because I'm one of that group. However, regardless of what era, I have enormous respect for any man or woman that answered the call to serve at any time since this great nation was founded. They, and all that supported them, are what made this country what it is today. Still today we have many sons & daughters that are carrying on the American tradition insuring not only our freedom but the freedom of others in far off countries.

Viet Nam was an ugly, politician's war. Our goal was honorable and that battle could have been easily won with America's military might if it hadn't been for the politicians. It was unpopular with the folks back home. When we first came home from over there we were scorned for obeying our call to duty. It took a long time for people to realize that the members of the military that served in Nam were just doing their part. Gradually people began to realize that what made that war ugly was the meddling of the politicians, many of them that had no idea what they were talking about. Today there are hundreds of thousands of us Viet Nam vets aging into our retirement years. We are the ones that came home that were still breathing.

The names on the Viet Nam Memorial are names of nearly 59,000 Americans that gave their lives defending American principles. The wall is a somber tribute to each and everyone of them for making the supreme sacrifice. The permanent memorial is located in our nation's capitol.

Last week we were privileged to have a half size replica come once again to EL's Thompson Park. It's called the moving wall. The last time it was here was in 1994 and who knows if it will ever get back here. Getting it here was the result of a lot of hard work by a lot of dedicated people. It started with Navy veteran Ron Simmons enlisting the help of others who in turn went out enlisted the help of even more people. It was the culmination of a lot of planning, begging and just plain sweat and toil.

It resulted in what is always an impressive display of that memorial. Even more impressive was the arrival of the wall, it's assembly and all the ceremonies and the people who took any part in making it all possible. It was extremely well covered by the local media and they did themselves proud. It was a moment of pride for all those in the tri-state area that made it work or just visited it while it was here. It was all in honor remembering those who's names are engraved on that wall.

Thanks to Ron Simmons, all the sponsors and to each and everyone that contributed in anyway to making it possible. It's special to me and I thoroughly appreciate you efforts.

ole nib