Colorado XL

My last post from Colorado was of the memorial dedicated by the Vietnamese community of Denver. As I explained then it was a very difficult shoot for me. You can review all that here. That being said, I want to try to give you some feeling for the faces, as I so often do, of those who fought and of some who were lost.

These particular likenesses were quite high above the ground so suffer, some, from not being able to capture them straight on.

Anyway, we owe them honor.

 

 

 

The statues are well worn but still...

I wish the circumstances had been better and that I had been able to do them greater justice.

Next time, on the 11th, we will make a return visit to Delaware, so check back to see if I made it and join me there, as always, at 9:00 am.

To see additional memorials from Colorado, or any other state, please click on the state name on the left side of this page. Take note, too, that Ireland, Canada, and Puerto Rico  have been recently added to the list.

Once more I will ask anyone who has pictures of Vietnam memorials not shown here, to send then to me and I will include them (giving you full credit.) Any number of you have added knowledge and honor to this site by doing just that. It is always appreciated and makes this effort better, more completed. Thanks to those who have contributed and to anyone who will do so in the future.

Colorado XXXIX

I was leaving Colorado the next morning and really wanted to find this memorial before I headed home.

The odds were seemingly stacked against me. I had popped my Plantar Fascia that day which had really slowed me down. I arrived on the south side of Denver just as twilight was beginning. As is so often the case, my directions to the exact spot were somewhat weak, but then I saw it. In a parking lot that seemed to belong to a Costco, it stood.

Located in what is known as "Little Saigon" it is a tribute to all who tried to save South Vietnam. It was kind of interesting because every sign, bright neon, was in Vietnamese, row after row of stores and businesses.

By the time I parked and gather my camera it was nearly too dark to proceed, but not knowing when, or if, I would ever get back to Denver, I took my chances.

These are just a couple of shots from the site, I expect to post more at a future time.

An American and a Vietnamese soldier stand together in defense of the country.

No names are listed here except the small silver colored plaques on the right that thank various donors and supporters.

Other than this plaque, no additional information is provided, but this link will take you to a site that offers some insights.

https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2023/10/06/cause-freedom-remembering-vietnam-war 

I include this detail because it matched the head of a cane I purchased while in 'Nam and was wondering if any of you know any information about it. It seems to me that if it is so common that there might be cultural significance or a story connected. Anyone?

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

To see additional memorials from Colorado, 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.

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.

Colorado XXXI

While just driving around Colorado near Denver I passed a military cemetery.

 

Sometimes these have wonderful memorials like at Arlington, Va or Riverside, California, so I took a chance and stopped in to see if I might find something.

 

Military cemeteries are always beautiful, well kept, orderly, dignified and that is what I found here.

 

Oddly, I parked in an area where there was no sign, no name, no identification at all: just endless headstones. I was able to track down the name: Fort Logan National Cemetery.

These are a few of the memorials here among the many.

I was able to find a few markers that honor those who served or were lost in Vietnam.

It is interesting to me that the only marker that can be read in the above photo is of someone who served in several wars including Vietnam.

 

 

A beautiful place indeed to lie among your 96,000 brothers and sisters.

R.I.P.

Next time, on the 24th, we will revisit Delaware, so join me there at 9:00am.

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

Thanksgiving 2016

Taking some time with family and I hope that you are too.

Each of us have things that we should be thankful for and I hope that today you will take a few moments to remember.

Enjoy.

This guy is safe in the mountains south of Denver, so he has something to be thankful for, too.

Next time, after the holidays, we will, for the first time, go International and visit Windsor, Ontario, so, join me there on the 29th, as always, at 9:00am.

To see Vietnam memorials from any state click on the state name on the left side of this page.

Colorado XX

This is my 20th post from Colorado. I think that is the most from any state, so far. There are so many interesting sites here that I call Colorado that state that keeps on giving! So enjoy and I invite, encourage in fact, you to check out the other 19 posts from this beautiful state.

The Colorado Freedom Memorial is located in Aurora just outside Denver. It honors the nearly 6000 Coloradans who have paid the ultimate price since Colorado became a state. Over half of these never returned to their home, they were lost in battle or at sea, etc.

I was very happy that I had the chance to have a long conversation with the wife of one of the guys primarily responsible for getting the memorial built. She was able to give me very precise directions about how to find then site. This turned out to be a very good thing.

It might have been easy to miss if I hadn't known exactly where to find it. As you can see, it is mostly glass and as I approached it on the highway, I nearly missed it.

This is a more direct, head on, view. It is made to recall the mountains to the west. The builders wanted to invoke the last thing Colorado's soldiers might see when flying off to different lands and different wars.

There is border that runs along the walk and as I saw it through the names, it reminded me of The Wall in D.C., so I took this shot hoping to capture that idea. The names ,of course, are reversed, but you can still get the idea.

The names here are not listed alphabetically in an effort to denote the chaos of war.

Our brothers and sisters are listed upon these central, divided panels on purpose. They mean to remind us of how the country was broken by the division over the war.

I suppose it is a bit macabre, but I always check to see if anyone who shares my name is listed among the lost heroes. Here, I found a Thomas and I salute him and all the others from 'Nam, and all the wars represented here.

The memorial may be visited at;

Springhill Community Park

756 Telluride St.

Aurora, Colorado, 80011

And, I promise you will not be disappointed.

Next time, on the 26th, we will revisit Connecticut. Join me there, as always, at 9:00am.

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

Colorado II

The dream of honoring these memorials is old. I cannot pinpoint the exact date of its birth, but in 1989 I drove from Maryland to Fairbanks, Alaska and took my very first pictures on that trip. So, it began sometime prior to then.

One of the places I stopped that summer was in Denver, Colorado. I had a couple of hours between flights and decided to check out what the city might have to offer.

I walked out of the old Stapleton Airport and got into the first cab in the long line out front. I said to the driver, "Take me to the Vietnam Memorial" As we drove along he told me his story. He had been in medical school and failed to file his deferment papers on time. Nine months, or so, later, he was in 'Nam. A story we have all heard too many times.

He drove me into town and pointed to the memorial. As I left the cab, he said, "Hey buddy, can I go with you? I have never seen it up close." We walked over and there enclosed by the pillars of a tall building was the monument. We stood gazing at it, trying not to weep in front of each other. We were only moderately successful. I took a number of photographs and we returned to the airport so I could make my connection. As I left the cab, he shook my hand and said he would like to have a copy of my book should I eventually complete it.

Over the next 20 years or so, I continued to dream and think about this project. Waiting until retirement from my school system to be able to begin in earnest. As I planned my journey I remembered the pictures from Denver and wondered if I could use them. I knew that this project would take a lot of time and probably more money than I anticipated. So, if I could use old pics, it might save me a trip and therefore, some money. Interestingly, I found all the photographs from that trip except the Denver shots. I searched and searched and they are just gone. I have no idea (or memory) of what might have happened to them. So, I began to research the memorial and try determine its location so that I could photograph it, once again. I could find nothing. Not one word, one picture, one mention, of this memorial in all of my searching. I spoke with friends who lived in Denver for many years and they were not familiar with the site. They even tried to locate it for me on a visit to see their grown children in Denver. Nothing.

The time arrived for my trip to Colorado. I figured I must be able to find someone in the city who knew what I was looking for. Upon arrival, I called the local VFW and talked to a guy who was very helpful, but did not know the site. He called me back the next day, after checking with his own contacts, to tell me he was unsuccessful. He gave me some other numbers to call. During this process I left several messages around the city.

As I was driving through the town, my cell rang and it was someone from the Adjutant General's Office returning my call. She was very kind, enthusiastic and bent over backwards to help me. But, she did not know the memorial I was seeking. We had several phone conversations and email exchanges, but no monument. During one call I remembered that the memorial had been at a very tall building that seemed to nearly encompass an old Catholic church. There was dead silence on the other end of the line, she said, "Mike, you're not going to believe this, but that was my church many years ago. I know exactly where it is!" She gave me the address and I was less than two blocks from the site! I called her back a few minutes later to report that I was standing in front of the memorial, once again, trying not to weep! I thought it had been lost to me, but there it was; on the corner of 19th and California, next to Holy Ghost Catholic Church. It reminds me of some scripture I heard, probably as a kid, about "...the lost being found..." It turns out that the sculpture was donated to the church by a 'Nam vet. When I saw it, more than 20 years ago, there was a large American flag suspended above it. The flag seemed to be getting lowered to cover the poncho clad soldier. The flag is now gone and no one seems to know why. The sculptor suggested that it is probably as simple as budget cuts and efforts to save money. I miss that flag. It gave me the chills when I first saw it. Some might suggest that there may be some connection between the monument and its location. As the world's greatest skeptic, I have my doubts, but who is to say?

I took a bunch of pics and was very pleased that it had finally all worked out when just an hour or so earlier I was ready to admit defeat and leave Denver. Little did I know that this story was not over!

My contact called me back and said she had talked with the sculptor, who was excited about my project and wanted to talk to me.

After a couple failed attempts, we finally hooked up, and more of this amazing story, unfolded.

It seems the sculptor made a model of the statue to enter as a submission for a competition to choose the New York City Vietnam Memorial. When something else was chosen, he consigned the model to a spot in his studio. The church's benefactor happened into the shop, saw the model and commissioned the sculptor to create the statue that now stands outside the church. The sculptor, by this time, had decided to make the piece a more general and inclusive war memorial (which may help explain why I had so much difficulty locating it while looking for Vietnam memorials) The benefactor, later, had a second copy placed at the Riverside National Cemetery which is also the home of the National POW/MIA memorial. (I will be at Riverside in August and will post more about it at a future date)

Well, now the story takes an interesting twist!

Jump to Ireland a few years back. Declan Hughes, a well known Irish writer and as it turns out somewhat of an activist, is given a ring that the Vietnamese government had given a visitor to the country. The ring, it turns out belonged to an Irish citizen killed in 'Nam. Hughes began a search to find the family of the ring's owner. During this process he began to wonder if more than one Irishman had died in 'Nam. His research turned up quite a few! 19 men and one woman were identified as KIA. He then asked those responsible for the Traveling Wall to bring it to Ireland. You can read a more complete telling of this part of the story, here;

http://www.irishveteransmemorialproject.com/article.html

The wall traveled to Ireland and one of the places it rested was on Adare Manor in Limerick. Adare Manor, quite unbelievably to me, is owned by the church's and riverside's benefactor, the same guy who commissioned the first two statues! He had a third statue commissioned (the maximum the sculptor will allow) and had it placed at Adare Manor to honor the visit of the Traveling Wall to Ireland!

It interests me how a simple visit to a memorial, more than 20 years ago, can lead to such an fascinating and ever evolving story and how what amounts to a desperate phone call to the Adjutant Generals office in Colorado actually made it all come to light. I cannot thank the people (you know who you are!) in the Adjutant's Office enough for their on going interest and support of this story and as a result my whole project. Their professionalism assures me that Vets in Colorado are well served by people who care and really get it!!