Lest We Forget

[chilidog]

My wife and I visited the Moving Wall in Baton Rouge today. We made rubbings of 18 names. I didn??t know any of these guys personally. I don??t know their face or even the color of their skin, but they were all someone??s son. They were all someone??s loved one and someone??s friend. They had plans and dreams. They had a life.

Maybe I do know them. I see them in my church. I see them riding around in my town with their loud music coming out of the open windows of their car. I see them laughing with their friends. Something is wrong. It doesn??t make sense. How can these rowdy boys be the same men that humped 100 pounds daily in sweltering heat, playing that constant game of ??kill or be killed??? How can these playful kids be the same men that held buddies and watched the light fade from their eyes as they struggled for their last breath? How can school kids ever be these men?

I pray God grant peace to the families of lost loved ones and grace to those forced to keep such memories.

?h Robert L. Graham 61W Line 2
?h Harry J. Haas 49W Line 53
?h Alan R. Gerrish 45W Line 61
?h Evans Benbow Jr. 25W Line 93
?h Harold R. Simonds 25W Line 55
?h Mark H Eaton 3W Line 131
?h Raymond L. Armentrout 5W Line 131
?h Larry Don Earls 13E Line 108
?h Walter E. Goshorn 13E Line 108
?h Elmer J. Juckett III 13E Line 109
?h Wilber L. Kohr 13E Line 110
?h Dennis G. Nicola 13E Line 111
?h John H. O??Brien 13E Line 111
?h Norman W. Vincent 13E Line 112
?h Selmer E. Salveson 36E Line 85
?h Eduardo Jimenez 43E Line 55
?h Willie B. Richmond 46E Line 49
?h Larry W. Gillispie 66E Line 9

[chilidog]

Channel 2 News showed up while we were there. The camera man got a close up of my wife making a rubbing.


Chilidog

[chilidog]

The white paper at the bottom of the wall is a copy of Doc Fred's poem "Bluebird." One of the attendants came up later and told us that everything left at the wall is kept and preserved.

Chilidog

[frisco-kid]

You're both kind, caring people. I appreciate this, and I have appreciated the respect and concern for our well being that you have shown all of us Vietnam Vets over the years that I have known you. I'm proud to call you friends.

[splummer]

It's funny but there have been some emails going back and forth today between some of my buddies from the old unit about Edwardo Jimenez. We just found a guy who was wounded next to edwardo when he died. I guess his last words were help me. Kind of sad, he was only 19. Thank you for looking him and the others up.

[SEATJERKER]

...Your rememberence touches us all, and thank you for caring, I wish everyone cared as much as you do about Veteran's intrests,...

...My wife did her first rubbing of/for Harold in 1984 in DC, and she says thanks, lost her cousin when she was 2 but remembers him, her brother's adopted son from the Ukraine bears his name, Harold Riley Simonds Bender, If he only can learn the price of the freedom he now has,...

...Be well,...

...Yall, "Welcome Home",...

...

[VIETNAM 1968]

I enjoyed all of the pictures. Thanks for taking the time to visit the Moving Wall and for remembering everyone that you visited while there.

Bless you FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART!


VIETNAM 1968

[DMZ-LT]

Thank you again Chilie. Salute !