Florida X

Port St. Lucie lies on the Atlantic coast of Florida about 90 miles north of Ft. Lauderdale. At the Veteran's Memorial Park on Veteran's Memorial Highway is this memorial that is very reminiscent of The Wall in DC.

It lists the 1954 from the state who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam. They are honored and remembered here forever.

This portrayal of The Three Servicemen gives a slightly more stark version of the message from the one in DC.

It always makes me feel a little better when I see that those who suffered long after the war are remembered. I read this week that 22 service personnel resort to suicide every day. We are getting better at dealing with the suffering and loss of our brothers and sisters but for far too many the help comes too little, too late.

One of the markers at the site proclaims this to be Florida's Vietnam Memorial. I am not sure who gets to decide that because the official one is in Tallahassee (seen elsewhere on this site) but, I guess it does not matter to me, there cannot be too many in my opinion. 

In Ireland there is a "discussion" going on as to whether there should be a second memorial built to the many Irish citizens who came to America to enlist in the service and fight in Vietnam. There were actually quite a few and at least 19 are honored on The Wall and I don't see how an additional memorial should bother anyone.

Detail from above

Next time, on February 5th, we will meet again in Idaho. So, join me there at 9:00am

To see more memorials from Florida, or any other state, click the state name on the left side of this page.