Virginia XXV

Traveling recently in southeast Virginia I was staggered by the beauty of the Autumn foliage. There at, seemingly, exactly the right time just added to my pleasure and fortune of finding a couple of Vietnam memorials, too.

Along the Pigg River at the foot of the Peter Saunders Bridge is this moving tribute to all who have served and those who have fallen in our wars. 

Rocky Mount, Va is located in Franklin County.

Listed here on the main memorial are the names of those lost in wars and the 1525 names honored on the pavers that make up the plaza honor vets from the area.

Our brothers, six of them, are remembered and honored here, too.

 

 

I always take the opportunity to point out the dates listed upon our many memorials. They are many and varied. I have seen beginning dates too numerous to list and ending dates as late as 1978.

Sometimes the beginning dates represent when the first casualty from the area took place or sometimes from the Gulf of Tonkin incident. Other times, sadly, it seems to be an attempt to rewrite history. For those who have not followed along on this journey, the first soldier killed in Vietnam was Tech. Sgt. Fitzgibbons who was lost in 1956. It took a number of years to have his name added to The Wall as his death fell outside the more accepted 1959 to 1975 span of the war. This was eventually corrected and he is now honored among the more than 58,000 others listed there.

Next time, on the 10th, we will revisit California, so join me there at 9:00am.

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