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.

Michigan XII

On my last trip to Michigan, I ran across this elaborate and beautiful memorial. 

It honors not just our brothers and sisters from Nam, but many from many wars. This, as I have often remarked, is very often the case. Many, many places just cannot afford to build separate memorials to every war. What that says about how many wars we end up involved in, I'll leave to you.

Rochester Hills lies about 10 miles north of Troy and on the corner of Avon and S. Livernois Roads is the memorial. Called Veterans Memorial Pointe it sits at this busy intersection were hundreds, if not thousands, of cars pass each day.

The small park, home to part of the Clinton River, is filled with benches, markers and pavers honoring many.

Thankfully there are a number of parking spaces making access far easier than at some sites I have visited.

There is lots more here but I will leave that for another time.

Next time, on the 2nd of August, we will return to New Mexico, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Michigan, or any other state, please click the 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.

New York XX

Today, in keeping with my on-going subgroup, Faces of Remembrance, I will share the guys from the memorial in Troy, New York.

I was unable to determine if the three soldiers were modeled on actual people or not, but usually they are not to prevent legal issues later on, but it never hurts to look.

Not being artfully inclined in any way, I am always astounded at how much emotion, life, and reality these artist able to capture in the faces of these our brothers and sisters.

These three heroes along with the names of the 45 from the area who were lost may be found in River Front Park on the east side of the Hudson River in Troy.

Next time on the 17th, we will revisit Pennsylvania, so join me there at 9:00am.

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

New York IV

An easy drive from Albany is Troy. We found this great site in Riverfront Park along side the Hudson River.

Located near the intersection of 3rd and Front Street, the site is dedicated to the 45 men from Rensselear County who paid the ultimate price for freedom.

The site consists of three components.

First is the wall which styled after a sandbagged bunker. The names of the 45 sons of Rensselear county are ever honored here. In addition, the following speaks to the brotherhood that is everlasting with vets.

"We shall be remembered: As children we played, as men we fought, as brothers we will always be together."

Second is the 10 foot tall statue of three soldiers representing all services and years of the war. Called The Vietnam Experience; Courage, Compassion, Pain, it attempts, beautifully I think, to capture each of these in the warriors depicted here. Note the detail on the dog tags (pic 5). Early participants in the war taped them together to prevent noise while in the bush. Later, the military issued tags with rubber edges for the same purpose. I am always glad to note when someone has done their homework at these sites. The sculptor certainly did on this one.

Third is a forty link chain from a destroyer that served in 'Nam. The links of chain were sold for $1,000 each to raise funds for the site. When I visited, I could find no evidence of the chain and I have no explanation for why it was not there.

Nearby this site are two other interesting memorials. The first is to James Connolly, the Irish Freedom fighter and Labor Leader, who was executed in 1916 by the British for his participation in the Easter Rising. He is noted for saying "Be men now, or be forever slaves" He lived in Troy for a while and is remembered here.

Just beyond that is a statue of the original Uncle Sam (Sam Wilson, 1766-1854) who came from Troy, too. His likeness has become synonymous with our vision of Uncle Sam. The story goes that as a meat packer when he supplied meat to the government he would mark the barrels of meat with a "U.S." which became Uncle Sam and the rest as they say, is history

From here, I move on to Iowa.