Arkansas VIII

Nick Bacon was the son of share croppers in Arkansas and determined to rise above this life. He lived in several places over the course of his life and served his community and country in every one of them. He is noted as saying that his time in uniform was the proudest in his life.

Perhaps his proudest moment in uniform was when being awarded the Medal of Honor by President Nixon for his service in Vietnam. 

His likeness is preserved at a MoH memorial in Little Rock, across the green from the Vietnam memorial featured here. 

"The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed forces' highest Military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians, and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor. The medal is normally awarded by the president of the United States, but as it is presented "in the name of the United States Congress" it is sometimes referred to as the "Congressional Medal of Honor". The Secretary of the Army, on behalf of DoD, has testified to Congress that the term "Congressional Medal of Honor" is "incorrect", and that "it seems inappropriate to modify the name of the medal with the word 'Congressional' as each award is made in the name of the Congress."

The above is taken directly from Wikipedia, read the whole article here: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_of_Honor

Next time, on the 3rd, we will return to California, meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Arkansas,  or any other state,  please click on 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.

 

Arizona XXXIII

For many years Eloy has been nothing more than a name on a sign as I headed from Tucson to Phoenix and beyond. Now, it has become dear to me.

I read somewhere that they had some kind of a memorial there and on a recent trip, I decided to check it out.

I drove into the outskirts of the town off the highway and it seemed to be a quiet, hot, a bit dusty small town. I found the Vet center almost immediately and was just astounded by what they have done.

For the umpteenth time on this site I will celebrate what so many small towns do for their vets.

This beautiful, open, plaza like area is entirely dedicated to vets. The side of the building you can see on the left is the Vet Center. The guys in the center were great. We spent quite some time talking about the memorial park and the cooperation between the town and the center to get this built.

These pillars list the name sof many who were lost, but without designations as to which war, branch of service of date of loss: just honoring the names of those who gave all.

It always interest me when I find the "homemade" along with what I call, without prejudice or and negativity, "corporate" reminders of the price so many have apid. I love them all.

There is so much more here and I promise to return at a later date with additional photos from here and a more intimate setting I would have never known about if the guys here had not shared it with me.

For a town of under 16,000, Eloy has done a remarkable and touching job of honoring and remembering her veterans.

Eloy is about 50 miles up US 10 from Tucson.

An interesting side note I ran across is that the name Eloy comes from an abbreviation from the railroads. It stands for East Line of Yuma. As the building project creating the east line progressed it became easier to write Eloy than spelling out the entire name. The name first appeared on a railroad map in 1909.

Next time, on the 28th, we will take another trip to Arkansas, so meet me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Arizona, or any other state, please click on 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.

Wisconsin XV

 I was less than a year into this journey when I visited Wisconsin. Still feeling my way along as to researching, or hunting down and finding appropriate sites to visit.

So it was on this trip. I no longer remember exactly what I was looking for, I'm not sure I had my first GPS at this time, so I really was just stumbling along.

I learned very quickly that if I needed help, firehouses were a good place to ask. Who knows an area better than the men and women who protect it and need to know where to go with as little hesitation and doubt as possible.

I spied a fire house in Brookfield, about 15 miles west of Milwaukee, and requested their assistance.

Not surprisingly, they couldn't have been more accommodating and helpful, even though we never where able to track down what ever it was I was looking for on that day.

However, right on the property there was a memorial. It is not a Vietnam memorial. It is dedicated to all the people who risk their lives caring for the rest of us: Police, all military and first responders, fire men/women and EMS specialist.

So, today, I do something a little different. I will post this memorial here as a thanks to them all and especially the great guys who spent an inordinate amount of time trying to help me on this particular day, 13 years ago.

You'll notice that the POW/MIA flag is prominently features here. Not exactly correctly as it being a National flag, it should be displayed equally

to the Stars and Stripes. This easy to forgive, I guess, as I am constantly amazed that most people don't know/understand this.

Also, as I have said many times, this flag will always represent 'Nam to me as it was created by the wife of a POW from our war. It is perfectly OK and fitting that it has come to represent all POW/MIAs, but it will always scream 'Nam to me. 

All services are honored on the center stone of this memorial, no names, no wars, all.

Next time, on the 23rd, we will revisit Arizona, so join me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Wisconsin, 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.

West Virginia XVI

A few months ago, I shared a memorial at Morgantown High School in Morgantown, West Virginia.

West Virginia as you may know had the highest loss rate, per-capita, of any state in the Vietnam war. This got me thinking about how the percentages from Morgantown High School compare.

West Virginia lost 1182 of the 36,578 men and women sent to 'Nam.

18 of these went to Morgantown High School. Somewhere out there, there is a math person who can tell the significance of these numbers, I hope you will tell us. I could not find info on school enrollment for all of the years we were in "Nam, but the numbers I did find seem to indicate that the population was roughly 3,000 students per year in at least the latter years of the war. Exactly how to extrapolate those numbers is out of my league, so, as I said, help me out.

Today, I will simply feature the faces of a few of the eighteen heroes.

Sp4 Spencer III remains MIA

These three were chosen in no particular order and for no special reason other than that they deserve to be remembered and honored. I will choose others in the future.

Next time, on the 18th, we will revisit Wisconsin, so meet me there as always, at 9:00am.

Morgantown High School is located at 109 Wilson Ave.

To see additional memorials from West Virginia, or any other state, please click on 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.

Virginia XXX

Last March we visited Stafford County, Virginia and the beautiful memorial there. I promised to return and today is the day. You can see the original post here.

Stafford lies about 40 miles south of Washington, DC.

The memorial honors those who served in the Armed forces from the Revolutionary war through GWOT.

Each war is etched upon a solid black granite "Wall."

It pleases me that someone took the time to get the years correct. I can't count the number of memorials that get it wrong. Nice job Stafford!

At the top of the site is a large globe. It appears that it may be designed to move as water runs beneath it, but I can't be sure as it was not working the day I visited. and, oddly enough, I can not find a word on-line about the Stafford county Armed Forces Memorial. Go figure.

Finally, the very "center" of the memorial is this tribute Wall depicting participants in our various engagements.

The sun glare was awful on this day and it, as you know if you follow this site, is a problem with so many of our memorials. the beautiful black granite used in so many is just very reflective and difficult,at least for me, to get just right. I have used lens filters etc,, to try to deal with it but to no particular avail. The timing of the photo seems to be the only good way to deal with it, and sometimes it is just not possible to be at a site at that particular time, So, we carry on.

Next time, on the 13th, we will return to West Virginia, hope you will join me, as always, 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.

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.

Texas XX

I have mentioned, in the past, my visit to Austin and the mock-up of a proposed memorial. The memorial was to rest on the lawn of the Capitol Building, but only a "Coming Soon" sign was there at the time.

I have not been able to return to Texas to visit the now completed memorial, hopefully this will happen someday.

I did get looking at my pics of the mock up which was in the LBJ Library and decided that I might be able to pull some faces out to share.

The memorial depicts a group of soldiers on patrol, but, today just their faces, honoring their service and diversity.

Here the promised faces:

The memorial has several scenes around the base.

As I said above, I really hope to get back to Austin and take photos of the actual memorial and you can be sure that when that happens I'll post them here.

Next time, on the 8th, we will revisit Virginia, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Texas, 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.