New Hampshire IX

 Running just a little late today, so this one will be quick.

For as much time as I have spent tin New Hampshire you might think that I had a whole bunch of memorials but, that is not the case.

So, today, we return to Dartmouth University where I found a memorial to 21 lost alumni. As previously posted the memorial had been covered for the winter, but the names were still available. I hope someday to return to see and photograph it when fully on display.

William Smoyer

2Lt William Smoyer was on patrol when another patrol was ambushed. He led his group to their aide and suffered multiple gunshot wounds as did many other Marines. He was lost in the Quang Nam Province on July 28, 1968. He was actually from Princeton, NJ.

Duncan B. Sleigh

2LT Duncan Sleigh was, also lost in the Quang Nam province but on a different day in a different tragedy. The following is taken from VVMF's The Wall of Faces. In part, it reads:

"...2LT Sleigh crawled to one casualty and lay huddled over him as a shield when another rocket-propelled grenade landed less than a meter away, instantly killing 2LT Sleigh. He absorbed most of the shock with his body, not only saving the life of one Marine, but also preventing injury to others near him...".

Duncan Sleigh was from Massachusetts.

Philip Dennis Barger

Captain Philip Barger was shot down on a mission north of Da Nang on November 11, 1968. His plane was hit by ground fire and crashed. He was from Dallas, Texas

These men were all from different states, but all were heroes. Their memory does Dartmouth proud as all attended the college. Dartmouth BTW is actually a university but retains its historical title.

Next time, on March 29th, we will return to honor National Vietnam War Veterans Day, so join me here, as usual 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 and join the group. 

Indiana XII

Brazil, Indiana is not too far from Terra Haute and in 1970 the population was just a little over 8,000. 

Nine of her youth were lost in Vietnam.

Today, just a few.

Max Wayne Batchelor

Sgt Batchelor was an Artillery operator who was lost at Binh Duong to "hostile small arms fire."

Harold Dickerson

PSGT Harold Dickerson had only been in-country for a few weeks when he was lost at Kontum. He was, for a time, MIA and died of "hostile small arms fire."

His name was, for some reason, left off the Brazil, Indiana Vietnam memorial and was added in 2011 completing the honor of the nine lost in the war.

PFC. Jack Kriger was lost to us on February 23, 1968. He became ill and was transferred to a hospital ship where he died of Encephalitis and Pneumonia. He was posthumously promoted to Corporeal.       

Next time, on the 7th, we will return to Iowa to honor a few more of the heroes lost in 'Nam. So, join me there, 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 and join those listed above.

Massachusetts XXXVI

The last time I wrote about this site in Back Bay Fens in Boston I promised to share more from the site. You can check that post out here.

These pictures include two from the reverse of the memorial and one from the front plaza.

This is the full reverse of the memorial. I learned, many years ago, to always walk behind these memorials. More often than not, there is nothing to see, but every once in a while there is a surprise, as I discovered here.

It annoys me when I come across something like this. Here, this well known quote is attributed to anonymous. A few seconds on-line would have informed the makers of this memorial that the quote is from John S. Mill, a British politician from the 1800s. OK, so actually, in addition, it is a misquote and perhaps that is why it is not correctly attributed.

One might easily argue that it is a small thing and not worth commenting on, but I wonder if this is sloppy planning or what. I have served on committees that have built Vietnam memorials and we broke our butts trying to be accurate, to get it right. It just makes me wonder.

This map of 'Nam is on the front plaza of the site. What is hard to see are the various markings of specific places but there are several.

Next time, on the 29th of January, we will return to Michigan. So, as always, join me there at 9:00 am. 

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

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 and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and Elli from Maryland, 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 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. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

California XLIX

As promised prior to my winter holiday break, today we are back on track and in California. 

Westminster is one of my early stops on this journey and to witness, and share with you, its remarkable growth is a highlight for me.

This small park, named Sid Goldstein Freedom Park is full of monuments and heroes.

When I first visited, in 2011, there was only the single memorial to the two vets: one American and one Vietnamese. You can see that post here.

Now, there are several more, see one of them here,

Westminster has a large Vietnamese population ( the largest in Orange County) and they have not forgotten their history and losses, nor our sacrifices and contributions.

Here they honor some of their heroes of the war.

 

Black April recalls the fall of Saigon on April 30, 1975. It is difficult to believe that in a few short months it will be the 50th Anniversary.

The City of Westminster remembers this day each year. 

See more here: Warning this is not intended for the very young and may be triggering for some others.

https://www.westminster-ca.gov/government/city-channel-wtv/black-april

Next time, on the 14th of January, we will return to Colorado. So, as always, join me there at 9:00 am. 

To see Vietnam memorials from any state and Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico click on the individual names on the left side of this page.

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 and Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, and very soon Elli from Maryland, 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 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. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Delaware XXVI

A short walk from the last post from Dover is a memorial to the women from the state who have served our country.

I had a little problem tracking it down due to my sketchy information about its location. However, a nice guy leading what appeared to be a school group knew precisely where it was and sent me on my way.

 

In my last post I highlighted the service of our sisters in 'Nam and here are a few more along side of their sisters-in-arms from other conflicts.

Once again, I salute all the women who have served over the years and especially those who stood so very tall in 'Nam. (See a post about the belated acknowledgement of the WASP service in WWII here.)

The memorial is located at the intersection of Legislative Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard North, on the right when traveling north.

Next time, on the 21st, we will return to Florida where I will attempt to pull some faces from the memorial in Key West, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00 am. and we will see if it worked!

To visit other memorials from Delaware, or any other state, please click on a state name on the left side of this page. Please note that Canada, Ireland, and Puerto Rico have been added to the list.

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, and Molly from Florida have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served 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. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Colorado XLI

I've been thinking a lot recently about the women who served with us in 'Nam. In a past post I spelled out some details about just how many there were and how many were lost. We are probably all aware of the eight nurses listed on the wall, but many others were lost, too. You can see that post here.

I have just finished reading Kristin Hannah's book, The Women and while it is a novel and has a number of intertwined story lines, I must say that when it comes to 'Nam and the women who served, she gets much of it right. I recommend you read it.

So, as I was looking for something to post from Colorado, I came across these pics from Fountain Valley and decided to share them with you today.

After reading MS Hannah's book it got me thinking about real heroes and these women, especially the Nurses, certainly qualify. We all saw what we saw, did what we did, but these valiant, brave and noble women saw it day after day after day after day. They, too, were treated badly upon return and to this day receive even less recognition and honor than the rest of us do. 

Look through this site and see how very few memorials are dedicated solely to the service of women.

If you get a chance, look up MS Hannah's book: The women.

Next time, on the 16th, we will return to Delaware, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00 am.

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

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, and Molly from Florida have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served 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. Thanks, once again, to all who have contributed.

Wisconsin XIX

Once more on this trip to Wisconsin I will share a couple more photos, from Joan, of the traveling memorial to those lost in 'Nam. 

These heroes during this month of Memorial Day should serve to remind us all of the sacrifices made by the few who serve their country and the , fewer still, to whom we owe the greatest debt. 

To whom we owe our freedom.

 

 

Next time, on the 27th, we will honor all who have made the ultimate sacrifice and to whose everlasting honor this site was created.

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

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served 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. Thanks, once again, to Joan.

California XLIV

I have been reading about the Living Memorial Sculpture Garden in Weed, California for quite a few years and dreaming of visiting to see all that is there there.

The problem is that Weed is not really close to anywhere. I have made numerous inquiries about how to get there but they all present a number of problems: its distance, the cost to fly, and at one point wild fires in the area. Anyway, I haven't gotten there.

So, imagine my delight when I heard that Molly Macdonald, a fairly frequent contributor here, was going to be in the area.

I asked her if she visited to forward some pics to me.

She very kindly did. So, today I want to share just a couple of them with you and over time several more.

The Garden honors many from Korea and Vietnam and more generally war itself. and unsurprisingly, I will focus on Vietnam.

The Garden rests about 13 miles from Weed, very neat Mt. Shasta

I have read that this wall of names was added sometime after the Garden opened in 1988.

LTC. Cozzalio is one of the founders of the Garden.

As I correspond with Molly, I hope to include many more photos from this astounding site and I hope to actually visit myself at some point, but as I said above, it is many miles from a major airport: 349 from Portland, 611 from L.A., 284 from San Francisco...

Next time, on the 22nd, we will revisit Colorado, so meet me there as always at 9:00am.

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

Thank you, Molly, once again!

Molly is one of a number of you who have responded to my request for photos of memorials that you have seen, but I have not. 

So in that spirit I will ask again. Please send any memorials that you may have seen in your area or in your travels and I will gladly feature it here (and give you full credit!) There is a an email address on the left side of this page.

New Mexico XXVI

Lordsburg, New Mexico lies about 60 miles west of Deming where we visited the last time I posted about New Mexico. Lordsburg has a beautiful veterans park that honors many and I will share that with you at a later time.

Today, however, I want to quickly share what must have been the original memorial in the town.

 

Situated directly in front of Court House is this stone marker that seems to have been originally dedicated to Vets of the World Wars.

There is what appears to be a newer plaque added to include not only those but also Korea and Vietnam.

It intrigues me when I see groups of names with no distinction made as to who served when or where. How much more trouble could it be? Perhaps it makes no difference.

Next time, on the 21st, we will revisit New York, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

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

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served 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.

Wisconsin XV

 I was less than a year into this journey when I visited Wisconsin. Still feeling my way along as to researching, or hunting down and finding appropriate sites to visit.

So it was on this trip. I no longer remember exactly what I was looking for, I'm not sure I had my first GPS at this time, so I really was just stumbling along.

I learned very quickly that if I needed help, firehouses were a good place to ask. Who knows an area better than the men and women who protect it and need to know where to go with as little hesitation and doubt as possible.

I spied a fire house in Brookfield, about 15 miles west of Milwaukee, and requested their assistance.

Not surprisingly, they couldn't have been more accommodating and helpful, even though we never where able to track down what ever it was I was looking for on that day.

However, right on the property there was a memorial. It is not a Vietnam memorial. It is dedicated to all the people who risk their lives caring for the rest of us: Police, all military and first responders, fire men/women and EMS specialist.

So, today, I do something a little different. I will post this memorial here as a thanks to them all and especially the great guys who spent an inordinate amount of time trying to help me on this particular day, 13 years ago.

You'll notice that the POW/MIA flag is prominently features here. Not exactly correctly as it being a National flag, it should be displayed equally

to the Stars and Stripes. This easy to forgive, I guess, as I am constantly amazed that most people don't know/understand this.

Also, as I have said many times, this flag will always represent 'Nam to me as it was created by the wife of a POW from our war. It is perfectly OK and fitting that it has come to represent all POW/MIAs, but it will always scream 'Nam to me. 

All services are honored on the center stone of this memorial, no names, no wars, all.

Next time, on the 23rd, we will revisit Arizona, so join me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Wisconsin, 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.

West Virginia XVI

A few months ago, I shared a memorial at Morgantown High School in Morgantown, West Virginia.

West Virginia as you may know had the highest loss rate, per-capita, of any state in the Vietnam war. This got me thinking about how the percentages from Morgantown High School compare.

West Virginia lost 1182 of the 36,578 men and women sent to 'Nam.

18 of these went to Morgantown High School. Somewhere out there, there is a math person who can tell the significance of these numbers, I hope you will tell us. I could not find info on school enrollment for all of the years we were in "Nam, but the numbers I did find seem to indicate that the population was roughly 3,000 students per year in at least the latter years of the war. Exactly how to extrapolate those numbers is out of my league, so, as I said, help me out.

Today, I will simply feature the faces of a few of the eighteen heroes.

Sp4 Spencer III remains MIA

These three were chosen in no particular order and for no special reason other than that they deserve to be remembered and honored. I will choose others in the future.

Next time, on the 18th, we will revisit Wisconsin, so meet me there as always, at 9:00am.

Morgantown High School is located at 109 Wilson Ave.

To see additional memorials from West Virginia, 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.

Virginia XXX

Last March we visited Stafford County, Virginia and the beautiful memorial there. I promised to return and today is the day. You can see the original post here.

Stafford lies about 40 miles south of Washington, DC.

The memorial honors those who served in the Armed forces from the Revolutionary war through GWOT.

Each war is etched upon a solid black granite "Wall."

It pleases me that someone took the time to get the years correct. I can't count the number of memorials that get it wrong. Nice job Stafford!

At the top of the site is a large globe. It appears that it may be designed to move as water runs beneath it, but I can't be sure as it was not working the day I visited. and, oddly enough, I can not find a word on-line about the Stafford county Armed Forces Memorial. Go figure.

Finally, the very "center" of the memorial is this tribute Wall depicting participants in our various engagements.

The sun glare was awful on this day and it, as you know if you follow this site, is a problem with so many of our memorials. the beautiful black granite used in so many is just very reflective and difficult,at least for me, to get just right. I have used lens filters etc,, to try to deal with it but to no particular avail. The timing of the photo seems to be the only good way to deal with it, and sometimes it is just not possible to be at a site at that particular time, So, we carry on.

Next time, on the 13th, we will return to West Virginia, hope you will join me, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Virginia, 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.

Texas XX

I have mentioned, in the past, my visit to Austin and the mock-up of a proposed memorial. The memorial was to rest on the lawn of the Capitol Building, but only a "Coming Soon" sign was there at the time.

I have not been able to return to Texas to visit the now completed memorial, hopefully this will happen someday.

I did get looking at my pics of the mock up which was in the LBJ Library and decided that I might be able to pull some faces out to share.

The memorial depicts a group of soldiers on patrol, but, today just their faces, honoring their service and diversity.

Here the promised faces:

The memorial has several scenes around the base.

As I said above, I really hope to get back to Austin and take photos of the actual memorial and you can be sure that when that happens I'll post them here.

Next time, on the 8th, we will revisit Virginia, so meet me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see additional memorials from Texas, 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.