Maryland XXX

Just last week The Wall That Heals came to Maryland. It visited Ocean Pines, a community not far from Maryland's chief beach resort of Ocean City.

Ocean Pines is only a few hours from where I live and having seen TWTH in other states I wanted to see if the presentation was the same everywhere.

 

 

With few exceptions which I will cover in a later post, it is much the same.

So, today I will hone in on one small part of the exhibition.

This banner is one of the very first things you see upon entering the area and it is rife with info about the war.

 Here are just a few of the facts that jumped out at me.

There are several young soldiers on The Wall. I have a friend who managed to get in at 16. He survived but lost a leg in the process.

The fathers and sons speaks to some degree to the length of the war. We often here that our current Afghan efforts are our longest war, but it kind of depends on how you are counting. If yo use the numbers as recognized on The Wall, '59-'75, well than maybe that is true, but if you go back to the year the first soldier was killed in Nam, 1965, well then you have a different number. If you go back to our first entry in to Nam, 1953, well a different number still. So, perhaps it is a surprise that the father-son numbers are only three.

You may know that the items left at The Wall are collected each evening and stored in a couple of warehouses. They are catalogued and kept. When the underground Education Center was proposed it was the plan to have a rotating exhibit of these items. Now that the center has been abandoned, who knows what will happen.

Jay Korff of the DC affiliate of ABC did a great story on these items. You can see it here.

https://wjla.com/news/local/left-behind-the-stories-behind-the-items-left-at-the-vietnam-veterans-memorial-wall

As any of you who have been following this site know, the number of names on The Wall has been in discussion and dispute for many years.

Well, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (the guys that built The Wall) and DoD have completed a four year audit to determine, once and for all, the actual count. After discovering errors, duplications and guys not actually lost, the finally have the answer. Obviously, they have not updated the banner yet.

I just check the VVMF website and learned that 3 more names were added in 2020 bringing the total to 58,279.

This of course could change as names, if found to be eligible, are added each May. VVMF has no say in who is found to be eligible, that decision is made by the Department of Defense. If I learn that any were added in 2021, I will update here.

Next time, on the 11th, we will venture back to Massachusetts, so meet me there at 9:00am.

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

Arizona XX

A recent trip to Arizona led me to an actual visit by The Wall That Heals. This is the original version of what are now several replicas of The Wall that travel the country so that many folks who might never make it to DC can see The Wall, mourn their lost and pay tribute to all who served and all who were lost. I have seen a number of these in places where they were purchased after "retirement" and placed permanently by the local population. Some of these can be seen in Butte, Montana, Pensacola, Florida, Altoona, Pennsylvania and a few other places I have visited.

The Wall That Heals is sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the same people who built The Wall in DC.

The display of the nearly life-sized version of The Wall took place in Peoria which lies a bit north of Phoenix.

In a large field backed by a lake and some of Arizona's many mountains, The Wall That Heals is every bit as impressive as its Washington DC namesake.

I was here for a number of hours and the light was continually changing giving The Wall a different look at various times throughout the day.

People from all around searched for and found their loved ones names.

This scene was repeated over and over throughout the day.

Anyone who knows me will understand why I featured this guy. He is a vet and we spent a few moments talking.

I am going to switch up a little here. As you know, I would usually move on to another state from here, but there is more to tell from this visit, so next time, on the 18th, at 9:00am, rejoin me here in Peoria for more about this moving experience.

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