Smitty, Jerry

thanks... good strong morale

Thanks Smitty for being so kind to our friends. There is a place in a soldier's heart that houses many names.

Mike(bluehawk) your most welcome :a:

Charles Osgood, on CBS-TV, in his Sunday morning show gave us a nice moving tribute to THE WALL and the soldier's statue there today...

Other memorials
 

The last 2 cities I have lived in have WWI memorials. There is no one left to care and both are in shambles and on the blocks to be torn down. I wonder what will happen to our WALL as time marches on?

Onesix,

We will have our kids and grandkids who will remember. My Grand-Father fought in WW1 and I still remember so you can see it doesn't necessarily go way with the last living soldier. It could take generations before I'd be overly concerned.

The great battle's are history and will remain that way I don't foresee any short comings because the books will still be there

and

as for the memorials well we can only hope that if and when peace comes to all the lands - that the memorials will still stand as a reminder to what happens when you forget.

Irony. My grandfather on my mom's side died in 1972 he was in WW1. His picture is in the gallery. I should have spent some time with him and wrote his WW1 story down, but I didn't. I was only 24 when he died. Anyway...WW1 was wall-to-wall-slaughter for 4 years that was actually confined to a relatively small area, compared to WW2...called "the first modern war", "the war to end all wars", and more...we have a statue in Overton Park, in Memphis, of a huge doughboy from WW1. It is also in need of repair. Not so many years ago they were lucky to get 20 people to show up there for Memorial Day...Very few folks under 40 even know what WW1 was about, much less WW2...sad, but it happens. What will this country remember about us in 100 years ? Does it matter ?

larry

Along these lines...some thoughts on Veterans Day

An average to large bronze equestrain statue (guy on a horse) will cost at least $25,000 to preserve once it becomes filthy, assuming no damage to pedestal/plinth or serious corrosion where the statue is connected to the base (due to conductivity of dissimilar metals). Bird droppings are usually the major enemy, but by cleaning and surfacing with a kind of special wax compound the bronze resists most effects. Cleaning of the "soldier's"and "women's" figure groupings at THE WALL would cost roughly as much as an average equestrian. The Korea War memorial in DC, with all its bronze figures will, one day, costs a few times that amount to preserve.

THE WALL being of incised marble and on relatively stable ground, will basically need little more than the grass clipped and graffiti (if ever any) cleaned off. Its location bodes well for longevity in the public eye, unless DC gets nuked or the national capitol is relocated.

Things made of stone (marble, granite, limestone etc.), such as the nearly finished WW II memorial on The Mall, are fairly vulnerable to air pollution and acidic rain, as well as to mechanical deterioration with each freeze-thaw cycle.
Masonic repairs are extremely time consuming and very costly once things are let go beyond a certain point.

Things made of wood, stucco or cement are by far the most friable, delicate... and should be carefully watched and repaired annually, if building momuments of such materials cannot be avoided. The costs of repairs is, however, far less.

Generally, though not always, as and when a monument's age exceeds 100 years and/or its location becomes remote from the public eye, and when those for whom it was erected are deceased... without the devotion of individuals, because government tends to go on to other priorities in time, all war or military monuments become at risk. Old military graveyards and battlefields are two excellent examples.

One method of ensuring against inevitable or eventual neglect is to establish local endowments specifically and only designated for maintenance expenses, administered by a military service group, the Scouts, ROTC, NG, Reserves, or law enforcement and the like. Contributions come to the endowment in small amounts, or in the form of major gifts and Estates Giving.

In some cases, such as the Civil War monument at Glorieta Pass, New Mexico (which is incised into stone, like our WALL), all that is needed is an occasional trimming away of the overgrowing juniper branches. Nobody is about to move it off public land where it sits, not only because that is the battle site, but because it is VERY large. In other words, ad hoc "unauthorized" maintenance is a spirit passed along from parent to child, which nothing can replace or purchase.

I have worked with monuments of all the above types more than 25 years, and would be honored to discuss any local problems people have noticed, to find the best way to resolve them, on a strictly pro bono basis, at anytime.

WELL.........I FINALLY DID IT
 

The Moving Wall, anyway. Today was the last day of it's stay in Santa Clara, about 45mi. from my house, down near San Jose. This is the heart of the Silicon Valley. It was set up in a park near the center of town.

I was off work today, so chose today to go see it, knowing that it was the last day, on a week day, and that there probably wouldn't be alot of people there. Just the way I wanted it. I got there about 11:30AM. Walking to it from the parking lot, you approached it by coming over a knoll. It was alittle emotional looking down on it. I stood on the knoll for about 10min. before I felt ready to go down there, and then it was just to the info booth. There was a group of students from a Catholic school there, with just a few adults scattered around.

I came with a list of 25 names. All guys from C Co, 2 Bn, 502 PIR, 1 Bde, 101 Abn Div that had been KIA during my year with them. I was determined to locate each of them on their respective panels on The Wall. It took me almost half an hour to look up all of their names. Now it was time to approach The Wall. I couldn't put it off any longer. I turned around and started walking towards it. I stopped about 25yds. from it and took it in. My eyes welled up again. It was a little overwhelming seeing all of those names laid out in front of me, and this is only half scale of the real Monument, I thought to myself. I stood there and said a silent prayer, crossed myself, and walked up to panel 9E. I counted down to line 18 and located William Leon. I never knew him, but he was the first dead American that I had seen. This was near Dak To, and my 3rd day in the bush. And so it went. I went down my list in chronological order. I touched each name as I found them, trying to recall their faces but failing for most of them.

I spent a little longer time at panel 13E, as this one panel held 10 of the names on my list. They had all died between 31DEC66 and 9JAN67 in the mountains near Kontum. 7 of them in the early morning hours of 2JAN67. After I touched the last name on the panel, I stepped back to look at the whole panel. One of the docents had been watching me, and he approached me. His name was Bill and had served in the Navy, stationed at Cam Rahn Bay. He asked me how I was doing, and I told him better than I expected and that was the truth. He said he had noticed me going down the panel from name to name. I told him a little bit of The Why of it without getting into too much detail. As it was, I had to choke back a sob once in awhile. He put his hand on my shoulder and told me it was okay. After a couple of more minutes with Bill, I continued my search.

After locating all of my comrades, I looked for two other names. One was my friend Manny's little brother, Mario Alvarez Cisneros, KIA 19NOV67 on Hill 875 near Dak To. The other was a childhood friend of Kath's, Will P. Barton II, KIA 9JUN66, also near Dak To. He had also been a 101st paratrooper. I took a rubbing of his name to take to Kath. I decided to leave.

I couldn't bring myself to just hurriedly walk away, though. I found myself leaving The Wall as slowly as I had approached it. I turned several times to take it in again. Once again I paused for a silent prayer. A bagpiper had shown up, playing several lamenting tunes. When he finished one, I approached him and asked him to play The Garry Owen in honor of those members of the 7th Cav who were on The Wall. I left as the tune was still in the air, feeling good about my coming there.

PANEL 13E
 

PFC Jarel W. Ayers
Lamar, MO
KIA: 31DEC66
AGE: 21

1st LT. Larry D. Earls
Murfreesboro, TN
KIA: 2JAN67
AGE: 28

PFC Walter L. Goshorn
Mifflintown, PA
KIA: 2JAN67
AGE: 19

PFC Elmer L. Juckett III
West Palm Beach, FL
KIA: 2JAN67
AGE: 19

PFC Wilbur L. Kohr
Fredricksburg, PA
KIA: 2JAN67
AGE: 19

PFC Dennis G. Nicola
Champaign, IL
KIA: 2JAN67
AGE: 19

SP/4 John H. O'Brien
Butte Falls, OR
KIA: 2JAN67
AGE: 21

PFC Norman W. Vincent
Duluth, MN
KIA: 2JAN67
AGE: 19

PFC Reinaldo Delgado
New York, NY
KIA: 5JAN67
AGE: 18

PFC Robert W. Barton
Unadilla, NY
KIA: 9JAN67
AGE: 19



IT WAS GOOD VISITING YOU, BROS.