The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is my generations war memorial.

The Memorial is on my commuting route, I pass it twice most days. The place never fails to amaze and touch me. It is quite a shock to see the name of someone you knew carved in the face of those black walls among so many others. The monument includes The Wall cut into the earth, 2 Statues one of soldier brothers and the other the womans statue and a flagpole.

As contentious as the war and aftermath were the Memorial is as intended a place of healing. As part of the re-dedication the names of the fallen are being read in order. The reading will end at midnight tonight.

We'll be there.

I remember the first time I saw it. Doesn't seem like it was 25 years ago, but there you have it. That monument seemed so much more personal than some of the others. It really is a remarkable place.

Tha original wall had so much power, people wept over it for months afterwards, and there were constant processions of crowds finding the names of their loved ones, making paper pressings, and leaving momentos, as if on a mass grave. It was so sad, so powerfully sad, that the statues came along to soften the stark symbolism of that wall and give it a more conventional monument look. I still think they should have left it alone. The statues seem cheap and meaningless next to it.

Those are some nice pictures, MB1!

My backyard neighbor who taught me to ride a mini-bike, a tote-gote, paid the ultimate price on Feb 01, 1968 during the Tet Offensive. He's on the wall, Panel 36E, Line 62. Never forgot you, Larry. Semper fidelis!

A solemn place indeed. I used to commute by it as well and always thought it was most impressive on wet winter days when few people were around.

MB1, I think your close ups of statues are some of your best photos. They really hit my eyes. Nice work

MB ... the first shot is probably the best one you've ever poasted. Nice work.

My backyard neighbor who taught me to ride a mini-bike, a tote-gote, paid the ultimate price on Feb 01, 1968 during the Tet Offensive. He's on the wall, Panel 36E, Line 62. Never forgot you, Larry. Semper fidelis!

Semper Fi!

MB1, these are very moving pictures. lest we forget.

Well done

He will have his name added sometime someplace for the war in Iraq. He paid the ultimate price last Good Friday. We remember you and will never forget.

Semper Fi!

Wow, that's Larry alright! He was cut down by shrapnel and bled-out during fierce fighting north of Da Nang in Hue not even 24-hrs into the Tet offensive. Larry was bright and had the mechanical aptitude of a farm boy even though he was raised in the comfortable Willow Glen suburb of San Jose, CA. His mother was devastated beyond words, something I'd never before witnessed in my youth of those days.

Thanks for the solemn image, MB1.