Maryland XXXIX Redux

It took a little longer than I expected to get back up to speed, but roday, here is the afore-promised post from Maryland.

Ocean City, Maryland is the ultimate beach resort in the state. It currently has a population of around 7,000 year round. But then, summer happens and it explodes, the miles of sandy beaches, amusement parks and other fun possibilities draw in 100's of thousands of vacationers.

One young man from Ocean City was lost in Vietnam.

He is memorialized in front of the current City Hall which is housed in what used to be a school: the school he attended as a kid.

Just to the right of the front entrance is the memorial.

The plaque stands adjacent to the WWII memorial.

PFC Berger stands remembered and honored here, once again a testament to what small towns do for their vets.

Nearby, bordering on O.C., is the even smaller town of Berlin and at a future date I will post about those several who were lost from there are remembered.

Next time, we will return to Massachusetts, to a memorial  I have been trying to visit for years. So, meet me there, as always, at 9:00 am on the 4th of November.

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

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.

Maryland XXXIX

 I have been writing these posts since 2009 and I have never had to say the following: I am too under the weather to complete this post.

Please come back in a day or two and I promise I will have bounced back and will have caught up with my post from Maryland.

Maine XXII

Recently I had a brief stop over in Portland Maine. I had read that there was a memorial at the City Hall on Congress Street, so I went to check it out.

It turns out that it is a dual memorial to both Korea and Vietnam. It is one of several plaques outside the building so access was easy.

It lists the names of 51 from Portland lost in the wars. There is no designation as to which wars these heroes were lost fighting. Simply names, but, perhaps that is enough.

A little research at VVMF's Wall of Faces told me that 25 of the names here were lost in 'Nam.

Next time, on the 27th, we will revisit Maryland, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00 am.

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

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.

Kansas XIII

Once again, Molly Macdonald has cone through with some photos from Pratt, Kansas. Molly travels extensively and is well on her way to becoming a regular here. I hope she continues her travels and sending me memorials she runs across. I hope others who see this will do the same.

My appreciation of Molly's efforts and contributions are incalculable.

The memorial in Pratt, like so many, is a multi-war, multi-generational tribute to the men and women who so unselfishly offered up their service and often their lives for their country. Regardless of what one may think of any particular war, their courage and commitment cannot be denied.

Here are listed names of several of those lost in various wars.

And then I noticed this. Three who shared a last name. There is no way , from the information provided to tell if they are related, or were lost. I did some research and could find no one from Pratt with these names. So, I make the assumption, admittedly possibly wrong, that they were not lost. In fact The Wall of Faces mentions only one name from Pratt and he is not listed here. So, until I can run down additional information or contact Molly again, I will have to wonder what it all means.

In the meantime, here are a couple of additional pictures that Molly sent along.

I will finish up today with the above Cobra. they were fairly new in 'Nam when I was there, but we were greatly impressed.I will update as I gather more information.

Next time, on the 22nd, we will return to Maine, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

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

Like Molly has done, I hope anyone seeing these posts will forward to me (at the address on the left) any Vietnam memorials you may have in your area or that you may have seen in your travels. I will gladly give you credit for them. Recently, I have heard from a number of you and my gratitude cannot be overstated. You help me to honor our brothers and sisters from 'Nam and I can think of no greater compliment to you, or them,

Once again, thank you to Molly!

Colorado XXXVIII

For reasons beyond my ken, this did not post on the 6th as it was scheduled to do. So, if you are reading this it is the 10th (or later) and it has posted after I adjusted the due date (and hope it works.) Therefore, the promised Kansas post, due on the 12th, will be moved to the 17th to get things back in order of every 5th day at 9:00am. ( I was at sea returning from Sydney, Cape Breton when all this managed to malfunction. Home now, and hopefully back on track.)

1Lt. Sharon Lane was the only one of the eight nurses killed in 'Nam as a direct result of enemy fire. Killed in a mortar attack ( I have, also, read it was a rocket attack) while trying to protect her patients. She is remembered on the The Wall in DC, as well as other places throughout the U.S. I have seen memorials in Ohio where she was born and this one in Colorado. 

Before volunteering to serve in 'Nam, she worked on TB wards at Fort Simmons in Denver.

The Nursing School at the University of Colorado named this road in her honor.

Lt. Lane represents the very best in us, volunteering to aid the injured, something she did not have to do. This perhaps is the highest form of heroism.

Marker is at or near this postal address: 13120 East 19th Avenue, Aurora CO 80045, United States of America

Next time, on the 17th, we will return to Kansas, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

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

If you follow along here you know that I always ask readers to send me any memorials, that I have not featured here, that they may have seen, I promise to give photo credits (which might only matter to professionals) and hope that some might do so. A number of you have honored me and our fellow vets by doing just that and I hope this will encourage more of you to get in touch.

If you have photos, please send them to the address at the right side of this page.

California XLIII

 I post this particular memorial here today for only one reason.

That it has been driving me crazy for many years. As I have stated before, I spend a lot of time reviewing my files trying to find something I think might be of interest to you, my readers.

I keep coming across this memorial and have never been able to figure out just where it is or why I happened to photograph it. Admittedly, my filing system and skills seems to ebb and flow, better sometimes than others.

So, over and over again I came across pictures of this site. Not these pictures, these are new. No notes, no obvious identifying signs, no objects within the pics to help me figure out what had happened.

I gave up. The heck with it!

Well, recently, I happened to be in California once again. I was driving down the street, looking for someplace to eat: and there it was. I immediately parked the car and went over to see just what it was.

Here, at last, is the Ventura Veterans Memorial. Yeah, I know, not specifically Vietnam, but a remembrance for us all.

The, now, ubiquitous POW/MIA flag must have drawn me to the site originally those several years before. Asa I have written before, the flag was created by the wife of a Vietnam POW and has since become the everlasting reminder of All lost and/or left behind. 

This, of course, is completely fitting and correct, but to me it will always be "ours." 

Did you know that the POW/MIA flag is, in fact, a Federal flag? It is to be flown at equal height as the U.S. Flag, except as you see it here, on a single pole. Too often, you see it below State flags and this is incorrect, it should be above any State flag if on the same pole.

Each of the Services is honored here, too.

So, now, at last, I can move on. The mystery has been solved. (You really have no idea how much this has bothered me for a number of years) I'm a little disappointed that it it not a 'Nam memorial, but pleased to have rediscovered it.

Next time, on the 6th, we will revisit Colorado, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

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

If you follow along here you know that I always ask readers to send me any memorials, that I have not featured here, that they may have seen, I promise to give photo credits (which might only matter to professionals) and hope that some might do so. A number of you have honored me and our fellow vets by doing just that and I hope this will encourage more of you to get in touch.

If you have photos, please send them to the address at the right side of this page.