NationStates Jolt Archive

all these war posts have got me thinking about that memorial today.

im wondering about the different reactions to it from people of different ages.

if you didnt live through vietnam, does it speak to you the way it does to people who did live through that time?

im 47 years old so i was 13 in 1970. i graduated highschool in 1975.

ive been twice, once by myself, then i made my sister go.

im a rather self contained kind of person so i get halfway through before i start crying. my sister, much more emotional, couldnt even look at it and wept the whole way.

my friends who are vietnam vets have never been. they already know that the emotion would be too much for them. i think it would be good for them but they refuse to consider it.

have you been? what was your reaction?

Yeah, I went to it, but I was like... 9, 10? and didn't reallly understand what it meant - I mean I knew what it meant, but it didn't really register how and why and when all these people behind the names died; I didn't have much of a reaction beyond intellectual curiosity... my Uncle died from Vietnam (not in combat, he caught some disease there and he came back to the US and died of it... his name's not up there... I never knew him, that was all before I was born).

all these war posts have got me thinking about that memorial today.

im wondering about the different reactions to it from people of different ages.

my friends who are vietnam vets have never been. they already know that the emotion would be too much for them. i think it would be good for them but they refuse to consider it.

I held off for many years for that very reason. I knew it would affect me deeply. When I finally did go, I went alone, in uniform. As I was looking for the name of my best friend from college, Peter Borsay ( Panel 23W - - Line 25 ), I found four others with whom I had served in Vietnam but who were still alive when I left in SEP69. To say that I totally lost it would be a classic understatement.

its bringing tears to my eyes now

the little notes and flowers left by people who still grieve. children making rubbings of the names of fathers they never got to meet. soldiers weeping for lost friends.

its bringing tears to my eyes now

the little notes and flowers left by people who still grieve. children making rubbings of the names of fathers they never got to meet. soldiers weeping for lost friends.

I know this isn't rational, but I felt responsible for my friends having died. I kept thinking that if I had been there with them they might still be alive today. I was the counterinsurgency team commander for one who died after I left, and company commander for the other three who died after I left. I wanted so badly to stay, but had already been in-country for 24 months and the Army wouldn't allow me to extend for another 6. :(

I left them my dogtags and a little cross I had worn the entire time I was in Vietnam. It was a gift from a very dear friend who died in a car accident a few years after I got back.

I see that only five people have even bothered to view this thread. This doesn't suprise me, although it hurts a bit. As I have said many times before on here, the only people who ever truly cared about Vietnam veterans are other Vietnam veterans, and a few family members of Vietnam veterans ... all TOO few.

nooo they are just too young

i was older than they are before i understood the enormity of world war 2 and the holocaust.

don't blame them for being too young to understand the pain of war. it will come to them soon enough

i went when i was 5 and i plan on going back one day and maybe talking to the vets there and get some stories from people that were there

all these war posts have got me thinking about that memorial today.

im wondering about the different reactions to it from people of different ages.

if you didnt live through vietnam, does it speak to you the way it does to people who did live through that time?

im 47 years old so i was 13 in 1970. i graduated highschool in 1975.

ive been twice, once by myself, then i made my sister go.

im a rather self contained kind of person so i get halfway through before i start crying. my sister, much more emotional, couldnt even look at it and wept the whole way.

my friends who are vietnam vets have never been. they already know that the emotion would be too much for them. i think it would be good for them but they refuse to consider it.

have you been? what was your reaction?
i recently moved to DC, and i now live less than 15 minutes from the Vietnam Memorial. i went to see it and was struck by the perverse beauty of the monument, a beauty that was enhanced by the horrific content...it was a very unusual feeling, to realize that it was beautiful, and that its beauty was due to all the soldiers killed in the war.

I went two years ago with my detachment. It was very powerful. Everyone in my det has a POW/MIA braclet, and by chance I happened to find my person's name on the wall. I wanted to leave the bracelet there in case his family came to visit, but thought it might be a little more respectful if I kept it myself as a daily reminder of what those who came before me sacrificed, and the expectations ahead of me.

i recently moved to DC, and i now live less than 15 minutes from the Vietnam Memorial. i went to see it and was struck by the perverse beauty of the monument, a beauty that was enhanced by the horrific content...it was a very unusual feeling, to realize that it was beautiful, and that its beauty was due to all the soldiers killed in the war.
its a brilliant design.
the weight of the names starts to build up on you as you walk toward the middle and the list seems endless as it grows taller than you are.

it is by far the most moving war memorial ive ever seen.

its a brilliant design.
the weight of the names starts to build up on you as you walk toward the middle and the list seems endless as it grows taller than you are.

it is by far the most moving war memorial ive ever seen.
absolutely. i experienced a sudden wave of guilt when i was about a third of the way along the monument, because i realized that i was admiring it so much...i was taking pleasure in what is, essentially, a symbolic pile of bodies. i was quite shaken by the whole experience.

i recently moved to DC, and i now live less than 15 minutes from the Vietnam Memorial. i went to see it and was struck by the perverse beauty of the monument, a beauty that was enhanced by the horrific content...it was a very unusual feeling, to realize that it was beautiful, and that its beauty was due to all the soldiers killed in the war.
Kind of like the Country and the freedom we have are beautiful because of all who have died to preserve them.

absolutely. i experienced a sudden wave of guilt when i was about a third of the way along the monument, because i realized that i was admiring it so much...i was taking pleasure in what is, essentially, a symbolic pile of bodies. i was quite shaken by the whole experience.
I understand. I was shaken by it too, perhaps even more than you because they are my brothers and sisters. I think they would be pleased that you were not only moved by the Memorial, but that you found it to be a thing of beauty. Thank you.

What a pointlessly depressing thread

What a pointlessly depressing thread
You're free to not read it. Thank a veteran.

I have never gone, although I would like to some day.

I've never even been to D.C. =(

I have never gone, although I would like to some day.

I've never even been to D.C. =(
You should go when you can. Even if you don't visit the Memorial, the Smithsonian is fantastic!

BTW ... Although I've been slammed before on this Forum for inserting links to my own Website, I thought this one might be appropriate for this thread. It's a poem I wrote shortly after 9/11 and is based on an incident which happened at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial:

http://paradigmassociates.org/ParadigmHeart.html

I went two years ago. I could feel the weight of the loss as I stood in front of the memorial. It was really hard, but well worth it, as it reminds me that war has a cost.

I have never gone, although I would like to some day.

I've never even been to D.C. =(

i dont remember where you live or how old you are

i didnt go to DC for the first time until i was..... musta been in my 30s

there is so much to see that i think the experience is better when you are older.


i think that is what is missing from other war memorials, the feeling of the sacrifice of the men who died for us. they all glorify some war or some battle but they dont make you feel the loss of the soldiers.

I have never gone, although I would like to some day.

I've never even been to D.C. =(
DC is a really amazing town. people around here are very well informed, not only about politics but about the world around them and their history and all sorts of topics. people also seem to have a great deal of compassion and understanding, possibly because they are so surrounded by monuments and landmarks that represent the struggles of the past. everywhere you turn there is a chunk of history...i buy my groceries at the Watergate Hotel, for example.

definitely worth a visit. i strongly recommend checking out the Supreme Court building, the American History Smithsonian, the Vietnam memorial, the Lincoln monument, and the Library of Congress. i would have recommended the Washington monument, but they aren't letting people go up it any more because of renovations :P. the new WW2 memorial is beautiful, as well.

I've never been to DC that I can remember, but when they had the mobile Memorial going to towns and cities, my parents took us to see it.

My father was in the Air Force and flew B-52s, I think it was? And he and my mom both had several friends who were there. My mom was looking for a specific name... I can't remember who it was, though. She once told me that if the guy had come back, she probably would have married him.

It was very eerie... Even though it was just a plastic copy, you could still feel the silence around it.

DC is a really amazing town. people around here are very well informed, not only about politics but about the world around them and their history and all sorts of topics. people also seem to have a great deal of compassion and understanding, possibly because they are so surrounded by monuments and landmarks that represent the struggles of the past. everywhere you turn there is a chunk of history...i buy my groceries at the Watergate Hotel, for example.

definitely worth a visit. i strongly recommend checking out the Supreme Court building, the American History Smithsonian, the Vietnam memorial, the Lincoln monument, and the Library of Congress. i would have recommended the Washington monument, but they aren't letting people go up it any more because of renovations :P. the new WW2 memorial is beautiful, as well.
Good post, Bottle. You continue to surprise me! :)

Every day of my life, I pray that someday there will be no need for more memorials, that someday all of humankind will learn to live in peace and permit people to chart their own destinies as much as possible. Until that day arrives, however, there will continue to be a need for free people to defend themselves and thus a need to honor those who give their lives in that defense.

You should go when you can. Even if you don't visit the Memorial, the Smithsonian is fantastic!

Oh, eventually, I plan to see all of the Memorials and museums there. I just have to save up time and money to go.

BTW ... Although I've been slammed before on this Forum for inserting links to my own Website, I thought this one might be appropriate for this thread. It's a poem I wrote shortly after 9/11 and is based on an incident which happened at the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial:

http://paradigmassociates.org/ParadigmHeart.html

I liked the poem. It's very sweet. And all the parts about flying over Afghanistan reminded me of my boyfriend's brother who was gone from his bed the morning of 9/11 and had no contact with his family until about a month later. Even then, he couldn't tell anyone where he was or what he was doing - but we later found out once he got back that he had gone to Afghanistan.

I've been there several times, but then again I live in DC. Beautiful monument, very understated yet powerful.

-Funk and Chunk

Oh, eventually, I plan to see all of the Memorials and museums there. I just have to save up time and money to go.

I liked the poem. It's very sweet. And all the parts about flying over Afghanistan reminded me of my boyfriend's brother who was gone from his bed the morning of 9/11 and had no contact with his family until about a month later. Even then, he couldn't tell anyone where he was or what he was doing - but we later found out once he got back that he had gone to Afghanistan.

Scary.

I wanted to go and even went down to the local recruiter's office. They asked me how old I was and how much prior service I had. I told them I was 58 ( in September 01 ) and that I had completed 19 years and one month of credited service for retirement purposes. The recruiter asked me why I didn't finish out my 20 years. I told him that I had been almost killed in a military parachuting accident and was "only" 40% disabled.

He looked at me for a moment, then said that anyone my age who was 40% disabled had done his bit and to go home and watch the conflict on CNN! I wasn't too happy about that, but it was about what I had expected. Sigh.

Scary.

Yeah, that's special ops for you. But he wouldn't give it up for the world. They've offered him an officer's position and a desk job numerous times, but he refuses to take it. His last trip to Iraq was to make sure a buddy of his who had just gotten home didn't have to turn around immediately and go back to Iraq.

I know it's all really hard on his family, but they're very proud of him, as am I.


He looked at me for a moment, then said that anyone my age who was 40% disabled had done his bit and to go home and watch the conflict on CNN! I wasn't too happy about that, but it was about what I had expected. Sigh.

Well, I would certainly say that you've already done more than I would ever ask of someone, but I find it very admirable that you went back to volunteer.

Yeah, that's special ops for you. But he wouldn't give it up for the world. They've offered him an officer's position and a desk job numerous times, but he refuses to take it. His last trip to Iraq was to make sure a buddy of his who had just gotten home didn't have to turn around immediately and go back to Iraq.

I know it's all really hard on his family, but they're very proud of him, as am I.
As well you should be. He sounds like a very fine young man! The next time you're able to communicate with him, tell him an old, beat-up Vietnam vet said "Job well done! Let me know if you'd like me to 'fill in' for you sometime!" :D



Well, I would certainly say that you've already done more than I would ever ask of someone, but I find it very admirable that you went back to volunteer.
Nahh. Just habit more than anything else. I was kinda hoping I could take the place of one of those fine young men, perhaps one with a family, but I knew there was no way I could have kept up physically. War is, unfortunately, a young man's game and I haven't qualified as "young" for a long time now. :(

I use to wonder, like most "older" people, what the hell was "wrong" with the younger generations, but after seeing our young men and women in uniform doing such an outstanding job I no longer ask that question. :)