Come back on the 1st of December for a new post from Massachusetts, meanwhile have a wonderful day!

Maryland XXVIII

Long ago, I lived in the Hagerstown area, even taught there for a time. So, it was with great delight that I found that a Vietnam memorial has been dedicated in the city.

It happened in March of 2019 and had been in the works for several years.

Located in Hagerstown's magnificent city park it can be easily accessed from S. Walnut Avenue.

The "Welcome Home" greeting as you enter is the first I have seen and it is touching and fitting.

Complete with benches for quite reflection the memorial also recalls a bit of history and hope.

 

 

Tribute is paid to vets and those who waited at home in support of them in a difficult time in our history.

Beneath the watchful eye of the POW/MIA tribute, the 17 from Washington county are ever remembered and honored here.

 

The above pic is cropped out of a larger one and is difficult to read. These men are due their respect, so I will list them here:

Edward Ralph Glenn jr.

Douglas Lee Tracy

Kenneth Lamar Deavers jr.

Ralph Preston Funt jr.

Ronald M. Adams

Harry Lee Watkins jr.

Harry Leon Ecton

Jack Allen Beard

John Franklin Hutzell

George Edgar Massie 

Nolan Daryl Byrd

Orville Lee Knight

Otto Philip Barnhart

William Lewis McGowan 

James Edwin Dodd

Hugh Julius Bonneberg

Ronald Lee Sanbower

Next time on the first of December, we will venture back to Massachusetts, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

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

Hawai'i

At the end of my last post from the National Museum of the American Indian I promised to post, today, from Hawai'i but the pics I had in mind were not what i wanted. So, I have decided that in keeping with the Veterans Day theme I would post about a memorial that I truly love.

While not specifically a Vietnam memorial it is in Hawai'i.

Called the Armed Forces Memorial it certainly seems to fit the effort to honor all who have served.

Located not far from the Governor's palace, the flame burns forever.

I will close this post with as a tribute and salute to Hawaii's veterans and all veterans everywhere.

The memorial may be found at420 S. Beretania Street, Honolulu.

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

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

Veterans Day 2020

Each year on or about the 11th, I try to write something appropriate about Veterans Day.

In the past, over the last 10 years or so, I have explained the origins and the importance of Veterans Day or tried to write some interesting details or facts. You can find those posts elsewhere on this site.

This year I am taking a slightly different approach. Do you know what group of Americans serve our country the most? The Irish? the Italians? African Americans? No, it is none of these. It is Native Americans.

November is also Native American Heritage Month, so this seems especially timely.

I have written previously about the Native American Memorial in Neillsville, Wisconsin. You can find that one by clicking on Wisconsin on the left side of this page and scrolling back a bit, it is exquisite.

And today, at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington D.C. a long planned and awaited memorial is being dedicated. Finally.

The National Native American Veterans Memorial is quite a beautiful thing.

I went down a few days ago to try to see it and found it completely shrouded from view by completely covered chain link fence. One of the great things about shrouded chain link fence is that there is always a hole.

In fact this time there were two. One large enough for me to get inside the area, but still not right up on it. And, I did try to explain to the guy inside what I was doing, he made it clear I had to leave. Not until I got a couple of shots, however.

The large circle, which signifies the cycle of life and death and the continuity of all things, sits upon a stylized drum and there are four war lances at the compass points. The elements of air, water, fire, and earth are all incorporated into the design, as they are woven into Native culture.

The war lances are adorned with eagle feathers and prayer ties. If you look closely you can see a prayer tie low on the lance. A prayer tie may be added by anyone who wishes. It is said that every time the wind blows, the prayer is sent to heaven, once again.

Eagle feathers

So, just after learning that this one was to be dedicated today, at 11:00am, I read that Riverside, California VA Cemetery has just broken ground for another. It is said to be completed in a couple of years. The artist rendition that I saw is spectacular.

The creator of this memorial originally was not going to even enter an idea but was convinced by friends to do so. The memorial itself is universal, meant to honor all: its creator, Harvey Pratt, is a USMC Vietnam vet.

Our original citizens are finally getting a little bit of their due: they have fought beside us in every war in which we have been involved.

To learn much more about this major new memorial check out this site from the Smithsonian: 

https://americanindian.si.edu/visit/washington/nnavm

Next time, on the 16th, we will check out Hawai'i, so join me there, as always, at 9:00am.

To see Vietnam memorials from any state in the union, please click on a state name on the left side of this page.

Georgia XIX

Regular readers will know that from time to time I post about the faces I have seen forever cast in the memorials I visit. I call this subset of photos Faces of Remembrance and today I will share some taken from Roswell, Georgia.

The memorial here can be said to be nearly all faces. The soldier reaches out to the child, perhaps his daughter, while the myriad of faces behind him look on.

Here is the complete memorial called the Faces of War Memorial:

The faces:

 

The Soldier

 

The Child

 

Another Soldier 

                                           An unknown woman

                                             One more soldier

Close examination of this memorial reveals fifty faces of soldiers and others all impacted by the war. At another time I will attempt to isolate some of them and being them to you.

Next time, on the 11th, I hope to have a Veterans Day post. Please join me then, on the 11th, at 11am.

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

Delaware XV

As promised in my last post from California, I was able to make it back to Delaware. My first stop in The First State was in a town called Felton.

The site was easy to find although a little concealed by some trees. It sits on the corner of Main Street and Railroad Street.

I pulled right in to a small, apparently little used road beside the railroad tracks.

 

 

The memorial is one of the kinds I have really come to appreciate: small,intimate, obviously created by the people most involved with the lost.

 

 

Like so many small town memorials it is dedicated to many from the town who have been lost over the years.

 

 

Interestingly, the flag, as seen above, is attached to the limb of the tree so that it is always in an unfurled, motion like vi

 

Two from Vietnam are honored here.

 

As I was leaving the very kind police officer explained to me that this was not a disused road and was, in fact, a one way street and you can guess which way I was going. Well, he asked what I was doing and when I explained this project, he handed me a warning, thanked me for my service and sent me on my merry way. He really was very nice about it.

So, next time, on November 5th, we will venture back to Georgia, so join me there at 9:00am.

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

California XXXII

 

Santa Maria is about 2 and a half hours north of Los Angeles and you could spend a lot of that trip cruising up the Pacific Coastal Highway (PCH) a trip everyone should make at least once in their lives.

You will need to leave the PCH at about Santa Barbara to head a bit inland to Santa Maria.

 

The memorial called the Freedom Monument Veterans Memorial sits outside the Abel Maldonaldo Youth Community Center.

 

 

It came about because of casual conversation between a mother and a local official. Her son was lost in Nam and she feared that after she was gone, no one would remember him.

 

The memorial, like so many, has grown and become more inclusive over time, now honoring many from the area. This seems to be in keeping with the founding principle of Vietnam Veterans of America: "Never again will one generation of Veterans abandon another."

 

This site has more to see and I will come back to it at a not too distant future time.

The Community Center is located at 600 S. McClelland Street.

Next time around I hope to have gotten back to Delaware. I have tracked down a few more sites in "The First State" and will share one with you on the 31st, so join me then, as usual, at 9:00am.

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