North Carolina, 3

After visiting Raleigh and Lexington, I headed south to Charlotte. Here, after a little initial confusion, we found the Mecklinberg County Memorial. It is really quite special and is located at 1129 East Third Street, in Thompson Park, in uptown Charlotte.

It consists of a 7 foot high, 270 foot long arced granite wall on which are inscribed the names of all 105 from the area who died in service. In addition, they have panels telling the history of our involvement from 1959 forward, a map of Southeast Asia and poetry by veterans. It is a small park with a number of benches and a walkway along the face of the wall. There were also a number of personal tributes recently left by friends and loved ones.

When the wall was dedicated many citizens, family members and vets were joined by General William Westmoreland, a name well known to all vets.

More information, pictures and map directions may be found at;

http://www.charlottevietnammemorial.org/

Next, on to Columbia, S.C. to a truly beautiful memorial.