Maryland XLVI

 This story is kind of round about and covers several years.

A number of years ago, I met a guy who called himself "Bear," never knew his given or last name: 'Nam vet, fit the profile. 

Bear told me about a memorial in Maryland, in a place called Helen. He described where and what is was and I decided that sometime I would visit.

He told me that it wasn't very big as Helen was not a big town .

He was right and what he probably didn't know at the time was that it had been basically forgotten about. If not forgotten, then certainly neglected. It was small and almost completely covered in weeds and other wild growth. I could not read what was on the memorial.

I took a picture or two, but then, I too, just forgot about it.  There was nothing to post, no pics of any value, nothing to say: just more forgotten and ignored vets. Par for the course.

Well, now, several years later I found myself in the area once again. I decided to stop by and was astonished at how it had changed. Much for the better I am pleased to report. 

It is all cleaned up and has what appear to be new stones engraved with names of many. It obviously honors more than 'Nam vets. Maybe it always did but I could not tell the first time I was in Helen.

As is my habit, I was carrying my camera and lenses. I took any number of pics and was happy that I chanced to see it once more. 

Most of the cameras I have owned over time have informed me that there was no film, or memory card, whatever, in the camera, so I have gotten very used to just grabbing my camera and shooting pictures or being warned about the lack of storage media. Never gave it a thought.

I know you can see what is coming.

Got home, several hours and many miles later, opened the camera and NO media storage, no card, therefore, no pictures. ( I am sure there is a toggle to turn on that "No card in camera" notice and will make every effort to toggle it the next time I remember!

I will leave out what I said next.

After ensuring I had media I made a return trip to Helen (double checked the camera first) and took some pics. 

 You will see the next time I post from here the difference in the "new" stones vs. this original plaque

Next time, on the 1st of May, we will venture, again, to Massachusetts, so, join me, as always, at 9:00 am.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/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.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.

Louisiana VIII

In what I believe was my very first post from Louisiana, I commented that the state seemed to have no official memorial but, that there were two in New Orleans.

That was June 11, 2012. Now, I just read that an official Louisiana State Memorial, honoring all 885 lost, was dedicated on Saturday March 29,2025: the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

Congratulations Louisiana.

Until I can get back to Louisiana, I will continue to try to honor those lost or who served in any way that I can.

One of the very first pictures I ever took in the state was not far from the airport at Dignity Memorial Gardens and seems to honor a number of Air Force vets who were captured. (This is one of the times I hope to hear from someone more knowledgeable that I am as I cannot track down information on the site.)

These names are crops from the 35 names listed here. Some are so weathered that they hard to read.

 

 

These photos were taken from the Wall of Faces, part of VVMF's effort to gather a face for every name on The Wall. You can see the thousands more they have collected here.

Next time, on the 26th of April, we will venture, again, to  Maryland, so, join me, as always, at 9:00 am.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/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.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.

Kentucky VIII

As you might guess, when I speak about this project I am always asked "which one is your favorite?"

I always explain that I love them all and that the "one I am standing in front of..." is always foremost in my mind.

Having said that, I will always mention the Kentucky memorial in Frankfort. It is just spectacular in its carefully thought out design and purpose. 

You can read about more of this here in my original post from Kentucky.

In keeping with my long term goal of honoring as many as I can, today, these names are from the plaza awaiting the passing of the shadow from the gnomon to touch, honor, and remember them: a reminder to us all.

These names were taken from the plaza in Frankfort and the photos are from Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund's Wall of Faces.

You can check out all the photos at:

https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces

Next time, on the 21st of April, we will venture, again, to Louisiana, so, join me, as always, at 9:00 am.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/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.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.

Illinois XVIII

It is with a somewhat heavy heart that I return to Havana, Illinois today.

I had hoped to identify each of these vets and perhaps share a bit about them.

As you can see in the second picture, his name is impossible to read and after quite a bit of searching, I was able to track down the actual window and the name of the store featuring him and so many others.

I called only to discover that the business no longer exists.

As always, I will ask if any of you readers can positively identify him, I would love to honor his memory here. Please let me know at the email on the left side of this page 

This window is unique in my travels and experience. You can read more about it in a previous post that you can see here.

I am posting this picture again because I found out that he is actually the only hero from Havana lost in Nam. Killed, as you will note, in Cambodia: a place where we denied we were for many years.

Next time, on the 16th of April, we will venture, once again to Kentucky so, join me, as always, at 9:00 am.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/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.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.

Ireland IV

The last time I wrote about Ireland and her participation in the Vietnam war, I posted a picture of the memorial in Ennis, Ireland to the 30 lost Irish citizens. (Now, 32)

You can see that post here to see the full memorial.

 

I got to looking at and thinking about the images along the top of that memorial and had a hard time figuring out just what the meant or represented. 

 

Further reading and some better pictures led me to some conclusions that I freely admit are mine and may be incorrect. (I wrote to the photographer for some clarification but have not heard back from him at this time. If I do I will certainly update here,) 

There are five images on the front of the memorial and here is what I think they mean.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first shows a man, head in his hand, in apparent despair, a feeling not unknown in Ireland.

 

 

The second shows him having made a difficult decision. Like so many millions of Irish, he is leaving his home, possibly never to return.

Next, shows his passage to a new world. 

Fourth, he arrives will many others to his new home.

Finally, he fights for his new country.

Tell me what you think!

I have written before about the Irish contributions to our various wars,

From the Revolutionary war through the present day. You can see some of that information at the above link.

Next time, on the 11th of April, I hope to have some more faces from Havana, Illinois. Join me, as always, at 9:00 am.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/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.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.

Hawai'i VII

Beautiful Hawai'i'. I managed during this journey to visit our 50th state on two different occasions.

Once to visit the state Vietnam memorial in Oahu and the second time to attend the dedication of a new memorial at the cemetery at The Punchbowl.

Today, I want to revert to the state memorial which seemed to take a back seat to the Punchbowl here and highlight just a couple of names from it.

There are 276 names etched here on individual blocks and today, I will honor just three.

 

These three, for now, must represent the total. I am sure that at some point I may feature a few more but until then these must suffice: heroes all.

Next time, on the 6th of April, I hope to highlight a few of the features from the memorial in Ennis, Ireland. Join me, as always, at 9:00 am.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/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.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.