Late last week the girls finished their schoolwork early so we took a field trip to the local mobile Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall. It was a first time for all of us to visit it so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.
As we walked in we were greeted by some very friendly people who handed us information pamphlets and explained a little bit about the wall to us. This particular wall was funded and built by the community, so it’s our own private replica, and is up for display at events honoring all US Military Veterans who served their country throughout the year.
Since the wall starts in the middle, with the first men lost, and sprawls out to either side the side we walked to at first only had one line of names. As we walked toward the center the number of lines increased more and more. As I saw vast amount of names on the wall (58,286 to be exact) I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.
Although no one in my family is named on the wall it hit me just how real these people are. That every name on that wall was a part of someone’s family. One of the names was even my brother-in-laws uncle, so we looked him up. They had a table with computers where you could have them look up which panel a particular name is on and they give you a print out that looks like this:
I had the girls do a rubbing of it and we are sending it off to my brother-in-law in Texas.
We spent the better part of an hour there, and it was an emotional but wonderful experience for all of us. Sometimes in life we just need a little perspective.
Since they say a picture is worth a thousand words, and I have the pictures, but not the words I am going to leave you with some more pics that we took and I feel needs be shared.
Have you ever had the chance to visit a Veterans Memorial wall, either in DC or a traveling wall?
