Thank you, all who have served
Last week I was doing an aerobic workout at the gym. The movie World Trade Center was on one of the numerous televisions. I watched about two minutes of the movie before the credits started rolling. The credits included information on the many public workers who lost their lives on 9/11. Because the movie featured the Port Authority Police Department, the credits included a list of the Port Authority's 84 men and women who died that day.
As the names of those who died scrolled down the screen, I choked up. Seeing the names makes it much more real and personal to me.
This was not the first time that I choked up from seeing the names of those who died in service to others.
Twenty years ago I visited Washington, DC. The Vietnam Memorial was one of my stops. The Memorial covers a lot of ground, stretching along a grassy area. It is much different than the other memorials in DC. The Lincoln Memorial. The Jefferson Memorial. They are large, but they are also sterile and do not have the emotional impact that the Vietnam Memorial has.
Up close, you can read the names of the soldiers who gave their lives for our country. Standing further back, you see a multitude of names covering the full height and the full width of the Memorial. The number of soldiers who died in Vietnam is staggering. Seeing the names spread out on the face of the Memorial makes one realize that a lot of men and women died in Vietnam.
I have never been an emotional man. Very rarely do I show my emotions. But, that day in Washington, looking at the Vietnam Memorial, I cried. Sadness swept over me. I also had a sense of pride in my fellow man. Even now, thinking of that day and the Memorial, my eyes are feeling damp and there is a lump in my throat. . . . The Memorial is that powerful.
I never served in the military. I got my draft card in 1974, mere months after the draft was discontinued in the US. At the time, the popular sentiment was that the war was over and everyone needed to move on to non-military things.
Even though I was never in the military, I appreciate those who have served and are serving.
Thank you.
YouTube video of George Jones singing 50,000 Names with images of the The Vietnam Memorial Wall
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