V is for Veterans, V is for Vietnam
When one thinks of V-Day we think of the good old days when the US was the undisputed victor of major wars, fought relatively quickly, and in multiple theaters around the world. For the Americans, The Vietnam War was the exact opposite.
At the same time that Tamar was on a business call with her client in Ho Chi Minh City, I was watching a documentary on National Geographic about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC. The memorial was designed by Maya Lin and I saw another documentary about the preparation and construction of the monument several years ago. This documentary, however, was equally fascinating and in some ways even more touching to watch.
There are 58,260 names listed on the wall of the memorial. The only criteria is that the names be of men or women who were either killed or remained missing in the war.
What I found the most interesting was the in depth discussion of all of the many items left at the wall by visitors to the site. These items include flowers, notes, flags, and photographs and other items that we’ve now come to expect at similar memorial sites. Seeing these immediately reminded me of the items left after the September 11 attacks and even at some sites following terror attacks in Israel. The narrator explained that this tradition has largely been shaped over the years by the practice of thousands of visitors to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memoral, the second most visited site in Washington D.C. after the White House.
However, beyond the usual items, people have left and continue to leave much much more. There were personal items as well as military items, especially medals for service. There were collectible items such as memorabilia, sports items, clothing, etc. I remember seeing a cigarette that was “not wet”, something that meant a whole lot more to a soldier fighting in the tropical forests of Vietnam than it ever would to an average person today. The most popular alcohol left is a bottle of Jack Daniel’s. There was also a bullet that killed a particular soldier. Many of these military items were brought by fellow soldiers and left for the memory of their fallen comrades. In one instance a letter was left by a man who was then a young soldier at the time offering an apology for taking the life of the very soldier the letter was left for. The largest single item left was a custom made motorcycle assembled by veterans of Wisconsin made of donated parts and artistically crafted and painted in memory of missing POWs from that state.
At first these items were simply picked up and discarded but their importance was soon realized. They are now collected and stored safely and they make up a museum collection where they are prominently displayed. These items are like those in a time capsule representing an entire era in American history, a generation of war and those people who have lived on but with wounds unhealed. This museum collection is unlike any other in that it has been collated and offered up by ordinary people and has been given meaning by them because it truly has meaning for them.
Without a doubt it is to the thousands of soldiers whose names are carved into the black granite that the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also known as The Wall, is dedicated. However, it is the constant stream of visitors who keep alive their memory and the memory of such a sad time in America’s past. On this Veterans Day, as is the case every year, I’m most reminded of the war in which I was born but in which so many others lost their lives. Whether through visits to the Wall, items left behind for loved ones, or trips to Asia for business or pleasure, Americans will surely continue to visit Vietnam over and over again for many years to come.
