Montana VI

One of the very first posts I ever made here was on a trip to Idaho and Montana. I wrote the very first post sitting in my friend John Spitzberg's dining room in Missoula.

The memorial in Missoula is one of the first I ever saw and a long time favorite. You can see the first post from Montana, here.

I noticed as I have been posting so many Faces of Remembrance series pictures that I had not included what might be my very favorite.

As stated in earlier posts, the Montana memorial is an angel lifting a dead soldier and it is one of the most touching I have ever seen.

Today, their faces. 

This is the angel and as I have said in the past, he is one of us and this is why I love him. You almost expect to see him in a field jacket under his wings.

And, this is the young soldier. Can't you just feel the calm resignation in his face?

The memorial was created by Deborah Fellows and may be found in Rose Park on Blaine Street and it is called, the Angel of the Fallen.

Next time, on the 4th of April, we will revisit New Jersey, so join me there at 9:00am.

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

Women in service to vietnam

 

This is a repost of March 25, 2022 regarding the brave and mostly unknown service and sacrifice of American women in Vietnam. For reasons I can't figure out it refuses to post in a readable way so I am re-posting in the hopes that this version is readable and these brave and selfless women are granted just a little of the respect they so deserve.

Something about the photos I used are messing up the posting, so, for now I have removed them and if I get the problem corrected, I will re-post. For now, the following is the text of that post

So, as always, I was looking for something to write about this time. As I have stated a number of times here that until I can get comfortable with the idea of setting foot in an airport, I continue to search files for something of interest.

As we are coming to the end of "Women's month" I wanted to post this face from a memorial in Monroe, Michigan.

 

This got me thinking about how few women are featured in Vietnam memorials. Admittedly most memorials do not have statues at all, men or women, but the number of women is absolutely dwarfed in comparison to men. And, the few that are featured are always nurses. 

The one above is the exception, she is dressed in flight gear.

So, I thought that I might feature a few of the other women's tributes that I have seen.

But, here, is something I have not seen before, 20,000 civilian women that served in 'Nam and remind us, again, of their patriotism and sacrifice, especially the 56 who were lost, in addition to the 8 nurses listed on The Wall.I have spoken of these women in the past, but they deserve another salute,as we deserve another reminder.  The following information was found at Vietnam Reflections, check them out at

American Red Cross

Hannah E. Crews Died in a jeep accident, Bien Hoa, October 2,1969.
Virginia E. Kirsch Murdered by US soldier in Cu Chi, August 16, 1970.
Lucinda J. Richter Died of Guillain-Barre syndrome, Cam Ranh Bay, February 9, 1971.

Army Special Services

Rosalyn Muskat Died in a jeep accident, Long Binh, 1968.
Dorothy Phillips Died in a plane crash, Qui Nhon, 1967.

Catholic Relief Services

Gloria Redlin Shot to death in Pleiku, l969.

Central Intelligence Agency

Barbara Robbins Died when a bomb exploded in front of the American Embassy, Saigon, March 30, 1965.
Betty Gebhardt Died in Saigon, 1971.

United States Agency for International Development

Marilyn L. Allen Murdered by US soldier in Nha Trang, August 16, 1967.
Dr. Breen Ratterman Died in a fall from a balcony in Saigon, October 2, 1969.

United States Department of the Navy OICC (Officer in Charge of Construction)

Regina "Reggie" Williams Died of a heart attack in Saigon, 1964.

Journalists

Georgette "Dickey" Chappelle Killed by a mine on patrol with Marines outside Chu Lai, November 4, 1965.
Phillipa Schuyler Killed in a firefight, Da Nang, May 9, 1966.

Missionaries

Carolyn Griswald * Ruth Thompson * Ruth Wilting: All 3 killed in raid on leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet February 1, 1968.
Betty Ann Olsen Captured during raid on leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot during Tet 68. Died in 1968 and was buried somewhere along Ho Chi Minh Trail by fellow POW, Michael Benge. Remains not recovered.
Eleanor Ardel Vietti Captured at leprosarium in Ban Me Thuot, May 30, 1962. Still listed as POW.
Janie A. Makil Shot to death in an ambush, Dalat, March 4, 1963. Janie was 5 months old.
Evelyn Anderson * Beatrice Kosin Both captured and burned to death in Kengkok, Laos, 1972. Remains recovered and returned to US.

Operation Babylift

The following women were killed in the crash, outside Saigon, of the C5-A Galaxy transporting Vietnamese children out of the country on April 4, 1975. All of the women were working for various US government agencies in Saigon at the time of their deaths with the exception of Theresa Drye (a child) and Laurie Stark (a teacher). Sharon Wesley had previously worked for both the American Red Cross and Army Special Service. She chose to stay on in Vietnam after the pullout of US military forces in 1973. (Source: August 13, 2000 The Baltimore Sun)

Barbara Adams * Clara Bayot * Nova Bell * Arleta Bertwell * Helen Blackburn * Ann Bottorff * Celeste Brown * Vivienne Clark * Juanita Creel * Mary Ann Crouch * Dorothy Curtiss * Twila Donelson * Helen Drye * Theresa Drye * Mary Lyn Eichen * Elizabeth Fugino * Ruthanne Gasper * Beverly Herbert * Penelope Hindman * Vera Hollibaugh * Dorothy Howard * Barbara Maier * Rebecca Martin * Sara Martini * Martha Middlebrook * Katherine Moore * Marta Moschkin * Marion Polgrean * June Poulton * Joan Pray * Sayonna Randall * Anne Reynolds * Marjorie Snow * Laurie Stark * Barbara Stout * Doris Jean Watkins * Sharon Wesley

Only eight women are remembered on The Wall, but these brave women, too, must never be forgotten.

Next time, on the 30th, we will return to Montana, so join me there 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.

Maryland XXXIV

I suspect that we all have had the experience of living so close to a place that we think we can always go there, and never do!

I have lived within driving distance of Washington, DC for nearly all of my nearly 75 years and have never been to the White House, for example, because I can always go, sometime.

Today's memorial was first erected in 1960 and is a short walking distance from a place I worked for 17 years. Never saw it. I had some idea that ot was there, but...

Well, today, I will share it with you.

It, like so many, honors those sacrificed in several wars and, like so many, is elegant in its simplicity.

A simple standing stone. Like those from civilizations from the deepest of times.

Enhanced by water, even though the fountain was not working last week when I visited.

Guarded by trees and honored by "old glory" it rests at the intersection of Woodmont and Norfolk Avenues in Bethesda giving solace to those who were there.

Next time, on the 30th, we will revisit Michigan, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

This memorial may be found near the intersection of Woodmont Avenue and Norfolk Avenue in a little park in Bethesda Row.

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

I will ask, at the end of 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 from the list at the left.

Maine XIX

Maine has some beautiful and unusual memorials and you can see them posted elsewhere on this site.

Today, in keeping with my most recent posts, I will share a couple of photos honoring individual lost brethren.

Like so many of these, the photos themselves are not of the best quality as they are cropped out of much larger pictures, but, they do honor three from Maine who deserve our everlasting thanks and respect.

Philip S. Bryant, Turner, Maine

Previous post about Mr. Bryant may be seen here.

Clayton Edward Savoy, Orono, Maine

Larry Joseph Nadeau, Orono, Maine

I have written about Mr. Nadeau previously on this site and you may find that post here.

Next time, on the 20th, we will return to Maryland for a "regular" memorial, so join me there, as always, at 9:00am.

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

Kansas XI

Junction City, Kansas is the home of the state memorial to those who were lost in 'Nam: 761 KIA, 38 MIA*.

Their names are all listed here and their faces are represented by these two etchings.

 

As always, I try to glean some meaning from the faces and these seems  sad. Perhaps anticipating their roles on this memorial.

Next time, on the 15th, we will return to Maine, so meet me there at 9:00am.

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

I will ask, at the end of 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 from the lost at the left.

* These numbers are those that I first used when writing about this site. Subsequent searches have turned up a number of widely varying numbers from a few more than 600 to almost 800, so I'll just stick with my originals.

Iowa IX

The effort continues to find new and hopefully interesting memorials or faces to write about until I can get back on the road. I have reasons that I cannot travel but this is neither the time nor place.

I have written about Freedom Rock before. It is a magnificent tribute in , Iowa that you can read more about here

The very first picture was a tribute to those who fought and were lost in 'Nam and as I pointed out in the original post, will never be replaced.

Today, I have attempted to pull out two of the faces to add to the Faces of Remembrance series that seems, at least for the time being, to be becoming a dominate feature here.

We see in these two faces a guy in-country and a guy sometime after his return to the world.

Perhaps the same guy.

If you go back and look at the original post you will see that this guy is one of the helicopter crew. The years have taken their toll on face but you can still see the sadness in his eyes.

This guy, older and wiser, still has some of the sadness. We don't know how old he is or what he has experienced since, but the war is still taking its toll.

This guy, taken from the Parkersburg memorial site (here) in Iowa, seems the embodiment of the 1,000 yard stare and one can only wonder what his "after" picture would reveal.

As I write this we are several days into the Russian invasion of Ukraine and I find I just cannot watch it. My wife watches it, she works for D.O.D. and cannot seem to turn away, while I must. I wonder how many others of us feel the same?

I will ask, at the end of 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 from the lost at the left.

Next time, on the 10th, we will return to Kansas, so meet me there at 9:00am.

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