South Dakota VIII

When I posted the last site from South Dakota, back in 2012, I figured that it would be the last. I had no idea that I would have reason to return. Life, being what it is, decided differently and I was back for a family wedding in Sioux Falls in the eastern part of the state. It was great to be back in this beautiful place and I planned some extra time to see what I could find as on my first trip I had not been able to get to this area.

As luck, or life, would have it, there is a beautiful Veteran's park just minutes from the airport. One surprise other than this park was the weather. We were there in May and it was bitter cold, the wind was blowing to beat all hell and I wondered how long we could endure! The temp was actually in the 30s, in May! There had been an ice storm shortly before we arrived and trees and limbs were down everywhere.

This park honors all veterans but other than Medal of Honor awardees, names are not listed.

Today, I will post a few general and a couple specific to Vietnam and next time post some of the other elegant and meaningful sights from this great park.

Note the lack of leaves on any of the trees

The wind was strong and bitter on this particular day

This stone dedicated the park to all who served and cautions us to honor them all

Vietnam is listed here among the other wars and much space is left for those yet to come

I frequently write about our not being able to decide when the was was fought and here is another example of how some interpret the time period. Most, but not all count from 1959 to 1975. These numbers (above) start at the Gulf of Tonkin incident and end with the signing of the peace treaty that "ended " the war. We all know these are just arbitrary dates as the first soldier actually died in 'Nam in 1956 and continued to do so until 1975 when Saigon finally fell.

Next time, I will post some more interesting sights from this spot. Join me at 9:00am on the 11th of March.

To see other posts from South Dakota, or any other state, click on the state name on the left side of this page.