North Carolina XXII

Returning, briefly to Triad Park in Colfax, North Carolina to share a couple more of the many features and tributes here.

Throughout the park are many small, individual markers to different groups.

Note the dates on this stone. It is extremely rare to find 1956 included at any memorial. As I have stated many times here, the first American soldier was TSgt. Fitzgibbons who was killed in 1956. Thank you to North Carolina for getting it right.

Various engagements are remembered here.

Earlier, I thanked N.C for getting something right, however, now I must take small issue with the above. P. McCree Thornton is credited with this quote (therefore, not unknown) who served two tours in 'Nam with the U. S. Navy. It appears in a book of fiction he wrote and seems to be a very slight misquote or paraphrase of something Theodore Roosevelt said many, many years earlier.

We will return to Colfax in the future to explore additional features of this magnificent memorial site.

Next time, on the 3rd of December, we will revisit Oklahoma, so join me there, as always, at 9:00 am.

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

I will ask, as I do at the end of nearly every post now, for anyone who has pictures of Vietnam memorials not seen here to please send them to me. I will give you full photo credit for the pic and any information about it you may know. Check your state, or anywhere you may have visited, from the list at the left, or any place else. Please send them to the email at the left or directly to me at Ldddad@comcast.net. Thanks

Thanksgiving 2023

So, as we give thanks as a Nation, a family, or just as an individual be sure to include in these thoughts the more than 1,000,000 service men and women who have given their lives defending, in one way or another, our country and way of life since the Revolutionary War.

Whatever our own issues and troubles may be, we still owe them our everlasting gratitude.

Happy Thanksgiving

Come back on the 28th as we return to North Carolina, meet me there, as usual, at 9:00 am.

To see Vietnam memorials from any state in the country, and a few outside of it, click on the state name on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Mike Minnick and several others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. 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.

New York LX

One more set of pics submitted by Mike Minnick. These, too, are from the site at Mt. Morris which is about 60 miles, more or less, due east of Buffalo.

Please check out my other posts from Mt Morris here and here.

Mt. Morris is a small town, less than 5,000 in the 2010 census, once more testifying to my ongoing astonishment as to what small towns are capable of doing to honor their veterans.

Reflecting a common theme at these and truthfully most veterans sites, this wall welcomes all who visit.

Each of our numerous involvements is honored here.

Note the dates on the Vietnam marker, omitting eight years of our efforts.

A final reminder to those who may have never served which is, actually, about 98% of the Nation.

Check back on Thursday for a Thanksgiving wish to all.

To see additional memorials to those who served, from New York, or any other state, please click on a state on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Mike Minnick, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. 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.

New Mexico XXVI

Lordsburg, New Mexico lies about 60 miles west of Deming where we visited the last time I posted about New Mexico. Lordsburg has a beautiful veterans park that honors many and I will share that with you at a later time.

Today, however, I want to quickly share what must have been the original memorial in the town.

 

Situated directly in front of Court House is this stone marker that seems to have been originally dedicated to Vets of the World Wars.

There is what appears to be a newer plaque added to include not only those but also Korea and Vietnam.

It intrigues me when I see groups of names with no distinction made as to who served when or where. How much more trouble could it be? Perhaps it makes no difference.

Next time, on the 21st, we will revisit New York, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

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

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. 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.

Veterans Day 2023

Every year at Veterans Day I try to think of something new to mark the occasion.

It is well known at least among those who have served that Veterans Day started as a remembrance of the signing of the treaties that ended WWI and was known as Armistice Day. Later the name was changed to include and honor all who have served.

This is an important distinction. Far too many people confuse Veterans Day and Memorial Day.

Veterans Day honors all, those who gave some.

Memorial Day honors those lost: those who gave all.

 See more here:

Veterans Day 2023: Founding, Fact & Meaning

 

 

Each year a competition is held to choose a representative poster, this is the 2023 winner.

So, this year, if you have the day off or even if you do not, take just a moment to remember the Vets who have served this country for you and be grateful for their sacrifices.

Next time, on the 16th, we will revisit New Mexico, so meet me there, as usual, at 9:00 am.

To see additional Vietnam memorials from any state, please click a state name from the list on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. 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.

Michigan XIII

We have visited Veterans Memorial Pointe, near Troy, before and as promised I will share some additional features of this lovely tribute.

Throughout the park there are any number of these small, nameless, tributes to our various involvements over the years.

Just beyond the bridge lies the memorial to our brothers and sisters who were lost in Vietnam.

 

Just below a now small tree is a plaque which is nameless, but perhaps the iconic image and sentiments here are, in fact, enough.

Detail from above

There are a number of other details here that I will share soon.

Later this week please return here for a brief Veterans Day salute at 11am on Saturday.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. 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.

Massachusetts XXXIV

In the years I have been writing these posts I have visited Boston a number of times. My intent has always been to visit and photograph a memorial in a place called Back Bay Fens. For a variety of reasons, it never happened.

On a recent trip to visit relatives who now live in Boston, I determined that this was the time. I told all my family that I was going to leave early on the day we visited, take the pics and then join them wherever they might be.

We went to my nephews apartment and it turns out that he lives, quite literally, across the street from BBF. We walked maybe 5 minutes and I was standing in front of the elusive memorial. Another example, of which there have been quite a few, supporting my wife's belief that this project was "meant to be!"

The Fens and therefore, the memorial, sit quite literally in the shadow of Fenway Park.

The memorial site is the location of several other memorials and is overlooked by a large, imposing statue of an Angel, part of the much larger WWII memorial.

The dates here ascribe the years of the war from 1962 to 1975. any one who is a regular here knows that this is one of my pet peeves as the first soldier was actually killed in 1956. I am never quite sure if this another example of revisionist history or some kind of an error.

 

In the not too distant future, I will add more from this site, so keep checking back to see these and many other meoriaols from around the country.

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

To see Vietnam memorials from any state please click on the state name on the left side of this page.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. 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.