Saturday, February 15, 2025

North Carolina XXVIII

So, finally the twice promised visit to North Carolina.

While searching through files of photos, I stumbled across a photo from a place called Blowing Rock.

Blowing Rock lies about an hour and 40 minutes southwest of Mt. Airy.

The memorial, like so many, honors those from several wars. This is very common as many places simply cannot afford to build memorials to every military action we end up engaged in.

 Perhaps there is a lesson there.


Blowing Rock according to the 2020 census has a population of  less than 1400 people. So, kudos to them for choosing to allocate funds to honor their heroes. 

Below are the two from 'Nam.

Next time, on the 20th of February, we will return to Wisconsin, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Monday, February 10, 2025

Important info for vets

UPDATE: somehow I posted this improperly. It was supposed to go up on the 8th but I messed up. So, here it is.


I am running a little behind today but this is important. 

I have never posted anything but memorial sites and some holiday diversions on this site. It has always been a place where vets and other interested people could come simply for information about Vietnam memorials and the honor we pay those who served and those who were lost. 

Today, I feel a need, more accurately an obligation, to share more startling and important info.

I have bent over backwards to keep my personal views out of this site, i.e. to keep it apolitical. 

This is just too important to ignore. 

It doesn't matter what your politics are, if you are a veteran or care about a vet, take a few moments to hear what this guy has to say. I have not independently verified every claim he makes, but what I have seen certainly indicates that he is right on target. As we have seen, the details seem to change every few moments. I have relatives who work for the Fed and get two or three emails a day changing what the last email stated as fact. So, as I write this, the details could be changing. 

The fact is veterans were made certain promises and it seems that those promises may be worthless. So much for "Rah rah, we love vets."

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/14yLAmtq5b/

I promise to get back to my memorial posts next time, on the 15th, check out North Carolina at 9:00 a.m.

To see Vietnam memorials from any state plus Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Monday, February 3, 2025

New Mexico XXXI

I know that last time I promised to post from North Carolina today, but, I realized that i had inadvertently skipped New Mexico. 

So, I will postpone North Carolina for the moment and revisit New Mexico, specifically, Lordsburg, As I have written before, Lordsburg has a wonderful memorial to all its citizens who have served. Recently completed (2021) it honors many from different wars and I have posted previously about a few of them. You can see those posts here, here, and here.

It is amazing to me that this memorial was built in a town of just over 2,000 people and during the war years it hovered around 3,400. Once again, I will praise what some small towns do for their vets while some large States have no official memorial at all.

Today, just a couple of pics, faces actually of two of the statues within the park.

In keeping with my Faces of Remembrance sub group.

This is the Vietnam solder honoring all who served.

This is the face of a female solder. It is not clear which, if any, war she represents. Perhaps just a tribute to the many women who have served, given their lives and all too often not received the recognition and respect they have earned and greatly deserve, I have written previously about the sacrifices of the women who served so valiantly in 'Nam. Most of us know of the eight women remembered on The Wall but many others Gave All for our efforts in 'Nam, too. You can read a little about them here.

Next time, on the 8th of February, we will return to North Carolina as previously promised, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Michigan XVI

In past posts I have identified Veterans Memorial Pointe as being "near Troy"', this is not too far off,  but it is actually located in Rochester Hills at 1015 S. Livermore Road.

I want to return one more time to share a few more of the features of this memorial. At a bit over 5 acres, there is much to see here.

One of the unusual things I found was a string of stones with the names of scouts on them.

 

The only thing I was able to learn was that a Scout wanted to enhance the site as his Eagle Scout project. the article I read commented that he had help from several of his fellow Scouts, so that may be the explanation for the placement of the stones. As always, if you know anything about this, I would love to hear from you. 

Elsewhere, I came across stones immortalizing fellow vets.


Two among others.

Lastly, this bench. I just liked the way it looked.

Next time, on the 3rd of February, we will return to North Carolina, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Friday, January 24, 2025

Massachusetts XXXVI

The last time I wrote about this site in Back Bay Fens in Boston I promised to share more from the site. You can check that post out here.

These pictures include two from the reverse of the memorial and one from the front plaza.

This is the full reverse of the memorial. I learned, many years ago, to always walk behind these memorials. More often than not, there is nothing to see, but every once in a while there is a surprise, as I discovered here.


It annoys me when I come across something like this. Here, this well known quote is attributed to anonymous. A few seconds on-line would have informed the makers of this memorial that the quote is from John S. Mill, a British politician from the 1800s. OK, so actually, in addition, it is a misquote and perhaps that is why it is not correctly attributed.

One might easily argue that it is a small thing and not worth commenting on, but I wonder if this is sloppy planning or what. I have served on committees that have built Vietnam memorials and we broke our butts trying to be accurate, to get it right. It just makes me wonder.


This map of 'Nam is on the front plaza of the site. What is hard to see are the various markings of specific places but there are several.

Next time, on the 29th of January, we will return to Michigan. So, as always, join me there at 9:00 am. 

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Maryland XLV

For a number of posts now I have been saying, at the end of each post, that soon we would hear from Elli from Maryland.

Well, today is the day.

While traveling to Maryland's famous eastern shore Elli came upon a memorial near Libby's Coastal Kitchen restaurant in Stevensville. It is a replica of the statue of the Three Servicemen found near The Wall in Washington, DC.

These are a few of the pics she so kindly sent to me.

The owner of the restaurant, Walter Petrie dedicated this memorial to three of his fellow solders who were killed in 'Nam. It is not too often that you find a memorial placed by one man.


The men from his unit are named and honored on this plaque:

Michael Twigg

Raymond Knight

Loyd McBroom

Thank you, Mr. Petrie, you honor us all.

So, if you find yourself traveling east in Maryland on Rte 50, over the Bay Bridge, on to Kent Island, stop by Mr. Petrie's Libby's Coastal Kitchen in Stevensville. Have a bite, maybe a drink and honor these three fallen and the other fifty eight thousand plus who gave all for our efforts in Vietnam and the Vietnamese people.

Libby's is located at 357 Pier One Road. 

The next time I write about this site, I will point out something I noticed about it, something I have never seen before.

Next time, on the 24th of January, we will return to Massachusetts. So, as always, join me there at 9:00 am. 

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Tuesday, January 14, 2025

Colorado XLIII

Once again I want to highlight this remarkable site in Fountain, which on several posts on this site I have referred to as Fountain Valley which is what the greeting sign says, but it seems the actual town name is Fountain.

You can see those other posts here, here, and here.

Fountain is a little south and east of Colorado Springs and about an hour and a half from Denver.

 Today, a few more of the heroes honored and forever remembered here.


 

Next time, on the 19th of January, we will return to Maryland. So, as always, join me there at 9:00 am. 

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and very soon Elli from Maryland, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.