South Carolina VII

I have written before about Patriots Point. I keep coming back to it because it is the one site I have visited that replicates, to some degree, actually being in 'Nam. the folks here have done a magnificent job of creating a Navy Technical Support Base. I know that there is something akin to this, Army I think, in Florida but have not yet been able to get there.

When this damn pandemic allows me to get back on the road, I hope to visit. Like many of us who were in country, I am highly susceptible to this stuff, so I wait, sometimes not as patiently as others.

The towers always attracts me, there is only one here and this is just a slightly different view of it.

New Hampshire XIII

Headed to a family wedding in Vermont I passed by Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. I had heard somewhere that there was a memorial on campus so I thought I would check it out.

I wondered around forever, it seemed, asked numbers of people and came up with zilch, zip, nada. Unwilling to just give up and walk (or drive) away, I continued to seek someone with an answer.

Finally, after quite some time I spoke with someone who thought it might just be out in a particular courtyard.

Following her directions through several buildings, I found myself in the small, nearly completely enclosed courtyard.

Almost as if it had been hidden.

Happy to have finally located it it, I was further surprised to find that part of it was covered up.  I was told that this was to protect it from the harsh New Hampshire winters and it had not yet been uncovered as it was still April.

In 1978, the newly dedicated memorial plaque had not mentioned Vietnam. It was only three years since Saigon had fallen and the war was still quite controversial, but this bothered the President Emeritus, a former Marine, and he and his wife made a gift to have the memorial plaque remade as you see it here.

I found the following on a Dartmouth page about Robert Frost's words on the memorial:

"...while these lines are so familiar that they often seem little more than a cliché, in the context of Dartmouth's Vietnam dead they take on all the power and freshness they must have had at their creation.  Indeed, insofar as the poem's repeated last line is here replaced by ellipses, the way in which the quotation's incompleteness is thereby stressed also serves to emphasize the parallel incompleteness of 21 Dartmouth lives.  Metaphorically, then, in "stopping by woods on a snowy evening," these young men suffer the tragedy of having to leave promises unkept only because of premature deaths that unexpectedly deny the very possibility of miles to go before their sleep.  Seldom has a war memorial offered more solace even as it drives home the tragic waste of war by making it more personal."

The courtyard is called The Zahm Courtyard and is outside the Hopkins Center for the Arts.

I hope to get back on the road in the not too distant future and to get back to to see the memorial uncovered. I promise to update this post when that happens.

Next time, on the 21st, we will return to New Jersey, so join me there at 9:00am.

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

Texas IV

These are the additional photos from Waco that I promised in my last post. If you saw that post, these are self explanatory, If not go back to that one and read the info I included from Waco's website.

As you turn from the large wall on the corner and walk down the path, you encounter these markers and The Wall. The last pic is the back of The Wall.

Next stop, Lancaster, where they built a memorial to all who served and three lost sons. Join me on Feb 16, at 9:00am.

North Dakota IV

In the southwest corner of North Dakota is the town of Lidgerwood. I found this really nice park there and saw that it was created by the local American Legion Post. I went to the Post but no one was there. I spent some time in a local eatery, talked with some nice folks and moved on to my next destination.

The first pics show some of the hardware in the Park. I always like it when a community decides to make a memorial kid friendly.

Each of the services has one of these small circular gardens dedicated to it. And, one often finds quotes, or scriptural verses in these sacred spots, but I think that none fits so well as the one found here.

Back home, I could not stop thinking about what small towns like Lidgerwood, so often, do for their citizens. I did some checking and found out a couple of interesting things.

Lidgerwood has well under 1000 people. The 2000 census, the latest I could find, said 738 folks live there. In light of today's economy, I wonder if that number has gone up or down?

The median income is well under $30,000 (again in 2000) and the American Legion published a 75th Anniversary book about the Post in 1994. Making it, now 93 years old!

These very few folks, without tons of money managed to build this great park. While it is not specifically a Vietnam memorial, the hardware here is from our era, so, to me, it counts! The park was also pretty well maintained, speaking to the dedication of those involved. It still just astounds me that this park is more than many towns, cities, and some states do for their vets!

California IV

I think that for we of the Vietnam generation, Salinas, California is imbedded in our collective memory forever. Probably due to Janis Joplin's hit of Me and Bobby McGee; "Somewhere near Salinas, Lord, I let her slip away, looking for that home, and I hope she finds it" A song that speaks to loneliness and isolation that just might touch a nerve in a soldier thousands of miles from family and loved ones.

When I discovered that I was only 45 minutes from Salinas, I decided to stop by to see what they might have and was amazed to find this remarkable site.

It is the only one I have seen, out of several hundred so far, that has as its main component a sandbag wall. As familiar as this would be to any 'Nam vet, it just doesn't turn up too often and this is by far the largest one I have seen. This flag lined wall is fronted by a Vietnam Service Ribbon, and has a huge Flag Wall with names of local heroes inscribed upon it sitting just behind it. In addition, school children have made and placed ceramic mosaic tiles with various sentiments upon them. This, too, I think is unique. I have not seen many other sites where children have been highly involved. The only other one I can think of right off hand is the previously posted Connecticut memorial.

California

I think it is time to move on from New Hampshire. I have some more photos from there and will post them at a later time.

Kate Wolf used to sing about the golden rolling hills of California and I have traveled through many of them. If I were to write only about California until I had posted every where I have gone, I would be on the subject for months! I have been as far north as Grass Valley (I hope to get further up in the state but it has not happened as of yet) and down to the Mexican border. I have gone as far east as Chirico Summit and Nevada City and west to Coronado. So, I will limit how many I post at this time, but will return from time to time to fill in the missed places.

As always, I will begin with the official state memorial. Located on the Capitol grounds, at 15th and Capitol ave. in Sacramento it is one of the most interesting I have visited. It tells a story. A story of a day in a life of a soldier in 'Nam.

The memorial is made up of a number of components and I expect it will take three postings to tell its story.

Today, a few of the basics.

The first picture is of the memorial, note the panels that are inscribed with the 5822 names of those lost or missing. Each of these is listed in a grouping from his/her home town along with their rank and branch of service. A number of benches are placed around the outside for quiet reflection.

The second picture is of a 19 year old soldier reading a letter from home. Those who were there remember that there was no time of day more anticipated than mail call and the joy of hearing from someone back in the world, and the disappointment of not!

Picture three was taken during a night visit to the site. I think it is especially compelling as some unknown visitor has inserted a photograph into the soldiers letter. One must imagine that the person who left it suffered great loss during the war. If not 'Nam, perhaps another!

Picture 4 is part of the dedication marker more of which I will post later.

Picture 5 is a tribute to Brien Collins who lost an arm and a leg during his second tour of 'Nam. He went on to serve in government for three governors and as an Assemblyman. He was a driving force in the building of this memorial and is quoted as saying;

Is the world a better place because you were here?
Did you make a difference?

He seems to me to be a man to remind us of our fortune and abilities and of what can be accomplished if we choose to make it happen.

More, next time, on this magnificent site.