Michigan XI

Michigan turned out to be a real roller coaster, at least with regards to the weather. We saw it all. In toughly twenty four hours the temp was 83°, it rained, it snowed, albeit briefly, it hailed, high winds and then our flight home was delayed because they needed to de-ice the plane. Whew!

All that aside, even though we were there for a family affair, I was able to visit two memorial sites.

Today, I will share the one in Royal Oaks, a suburb of Detroit.

This memorial was originally in a different spot that ended up a parking lot for City Hall. Moved to its current location in a newly formed, quite lovely, park, it now sits across the street from and facing the City hall building.

You can see the back of the memorial in this shot from within the new park. It has grown from a WWI memorial to encompass all wars up to Vietnam. the obelisk at the right is the Vietnam portion of the site.

There are a couple of markers, like this one, spread over the site.

I was really disappointed to find the memorial surrounded by construction tape and other barriers, (it was not obvious what exactly was going on) so I had to photograph from some odd angles, even after trying to move some of the stuff out of the way ( I put it all back when I was finished)

Interestingly, the blue tape on the face of the memorial is where they have gone out of their way to correct a mistake in a name. I looked under it and a letter has been removed, filled in, and is awaiting a correction.

 

These are the 39 names of those from the area lost. I will, at a future date, post a few more pics from this site.

Next time, on the 29th, I we will revisit Montana, so meet me there asd usual, 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.

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

Canada

This is a first.

Today we are going International.

This memorial in Windsor, Ontario, Canada was built along the banks of the Detroit River which divides our two countries. It is actually south of Detroit and honors 103 Canadians including 7 MIAs.

The memorial is often referred to as The North Wall or Wall North. I have written previously, on this site, about Wall South and Wall West and you can find those by clicking on Florida or California respectively and scrolling back until you find them.

The memorial plaques are made of the same black granite that The Wall in DC is made from.

My understanding is that when it was built Canada had no memorials to those lost in Vietnam. The Detroit chapter of the Military Association of Concerned Veterans (MACV) wanted to honor our brothers from the north and created this memorial for them. Nearly 30,000 Canadians joined the U.S. Military to fight in Vietnam. This was illegal by Canadian law and each of these had to claim that they resided in a US city, perhaps this is why Canada had no memorials at the time.

Each year a wreath placing ceremony is held with representatives from Canad and the US, families, and supporters in attendance.

Since this memorial was completed I have read that Canada has created several and even has a Traveling Wall like the ones here. I have not seen any of these so am going on what I have been told or read. If you are aware of other memorials, as always, I would like to know about them.

Nearby is this beautiful American Flag, a Canadian flag similar to this one is on the other side of the memorial.

The memorial is located in Assumption Park right at the Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit with Windsor.

I recently returned from Ireland where I was able to find two memorials that honor Irish citizens lost in 'Nam. That is an interesting story, so be watching for it in the not too distant future.

Next time, on December 4th, we will return to Colorado, so join me there as usual at 9:00am.

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