Pennsylvania XVII

I have posted about the Philadelphia Vietnam Memorial a couple of times in the past. Last time, I reported that it had been partially torn down due to illicit activity within its bounds.

Well, over the 4th of July weekend, I returned to Philly to see the NEW memorial and I could not have been more pleased.

I always loved the original and was worried about what might happen to it in a renovation, but I needn't have been concerned. It is back and in my opinion better than ever.

Originally, it was a fairly enclosed space with a Wall for names in an amphitheater like setting. With your back to the Wall of names, you could sit upon the shallow "steps" and gaze at the several "Day in the life" scenes etched upon the opposite wall.

This as aforementioned created a closed space in which stuff could happen.

I rolled through Philly a couple of years ago to find the Wall of scenes torn down and much construction going on. I didn't know what to expect.

So, I returned and I think they did a great job. The site is more open and accessible.

The Wall has been opened up, seemingly rolled back, making the whole place, truthfully, more inviting.

Several features have been added, too and I will address them in a later post, for now, I am just thrilled that it is back.

So, next time, on the 19th, it is back to Texas, so join me there at 9:00am.

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

Pennsylvania XII

I returned to Philadelphia, recently, after reading about the repeated vandalism at the Vietnam Memorial there. I will not go into a long rant about the kind of people who would desecrate a beloved memorial, but I wanted to see what was up.

View from behind where the former wall of scenes was located

The earlier version of this remarkable site is featured elsewhere on this site. You can see it here;

http://michaelfwalsh.blogspot.com/2009/12/pennsylvania.html

The wall of scenes that faced the wall of name s is now completely gone. The only good thing I can see about that is that I was able to get a nice shot of the whole wall of names, this time. this was not possible before due to the confined space.

View from in front of the wall of names towards the former wall of scenes.

Reading the website of the memorial makes it clear that the intention is to rebuild it better than ever. What is does not do is make it very clear exactly what the new memorial is going to look like. I will return when the work is complete and report back later. It is hoped that the repairs will be complete by Memorial Day 2014.

In addition to being able to photograph the wall of names I also discovered a time capsule buried on the site, I had completely missed that the last time I was there. It is located around behind the wall of names.

Also, the last time I visited there were a large number of Shamrock stickers placed next to very Irish sounding names, this time, I saw that these had all been removed but someone had placed a number of 1st Air Cav. stickers next to certain names.

I feel like this is people being respectful and honoring those they loved and lost. There were, also, a couple of small "Irish" flags stuck in to the panels.

I do not object to these either, I kind of like them, but the vandalism is just meaningless, disrespectful and unacceptable. Nearby, is a beautiful memorial to the Irish immigrants who left Ireland during the potato famine and came here in hopes of survival and a better life. As I stood looking at it I was somewhat stunned by people not only allowing, but encouraging their kids to climb all over it and the teenagers placing themselves among the life sized statues of the refugees and taking pictures. Maybe it is not such a big deal, but I just feel that it is representative of the lack of respect, at worst, or the obliviousness, at best, of far too many.

Next time, I will get back on my standard alphabetical schedule and revisit Connecticut. As always, join me on the 19th at 9:00am.

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

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania, like a number of other states, seems to have no "official" memorial. Having said this, I have found that there are several spread throughout the state. This one, in Philadelphia, is just one of a number I hope to see. On my wish list are Pittsburgh, Red Lion and more.

The designer of the Philadelphia site said he hoped to honor the memory of those who had been killed in the war, as well as provide a place of contemplation for those who had returned. To do this, he created two facing walls- a curved one inscribed with the names of all killed in action, facing a straight one engraved with scenes from the war, beginning to end.

The two walls, which create an amphitheater like setting, are composed of polished gray granite, selected by the designer and quarried in Minnesota. The scenes, along with the names, were then sandblasted into the stones' surface.

The Name Panels
The southern wall containing all 647 names is concave and slightly raised in the center. It is placed on a slightly higher plane than the opposing north wall which is inscribed with the various scenes.

The Scenes Panel
Based on sketches by a Temple University graduate student, each of the eight scenes measures seven feet by five feet and is thirteen inches thick. They are arranged in chronological order from left to right and depict scenes beginning with aircraft launching from a carrier (1964) to the fall of Saigon in 1975.

In addition, there are the military insignias, a map of Vietnam and a world map inscribed at the site.

The memorial is located in the Penn's Landing area, at Front and Spruce Streets. This area has a number of memorials and monuments, including a very moving tribute to the Irish, who came to Pennsylvania and worked in the coalmines.