Virginia XIV

I have been on this journey for more than ten years now and during most of that time I have been aware of the Charlottesville, Virginia Vietnam memorial. It has been in and on my mind because it claims to be the oldest Vietnam memorial in the country. For all this time, I have said that I would just run down to Charlottesville and see it when I got a chance. It is not so very far from me that it seemed like a big deal. Kinda like living near DC and thinking, Oh I can go see the White House any time I want and then never doing it.

So, ten years slips by, nearly unnoticed.

If you have been following A Means to Heal for a while you may recall that several posts I have written from different areas of the country make the same claim of being the oldest or first Vietnam memorial.

The opportunity to visit Charlottesville finally presented itself and I jumped at the chance to confirm, or not, their claim.

 It has always been called the Dogwood Memorial and I was pleased to see that new Dogwoods have been planted all over the area.

 I like the fact that the area is referred to as The Hill That Heals echoing the name of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund's (the folks that built The Wall in DC) The Wall That Heals. Not sure which came first, but I just like it.

Originally the memorial was dedicated to the  from the area thought to be lost and as is so often the case as time went on additional names were found and added to the original list.

The memorial has expanded over the years in to this most beautiful of sites and is, in fact, being worked on at this time.

I will post again about this sacred spot because there is a lot more here, but mostly because what they say seems to be true. Of all the memorials I have visited, hundreds and hundreds of them, this, in fact, the oldest one I have found.

Next time, on the 19th, we will return to Washington, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

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