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| As of today, 206505 remembrances have been left. |
| Featured Remembrance |
HERMAN TOWERY
Dad my wife wrote this for you and I .....your loving son
By: Timothy M Towery
I took a trip today, not thousands of miles like the masses here, but one just as profound. As I journeyed I touched them, all of them and they touched me. As I walked I ran my hand over the names inscribed into the black granite and I heard the voices. They all have stories ...
I heard whispers and painful frightened cries of men, more like boys, many just old enough to vote and shave, and of women. Brothers, Sisters, Mothers, Fathers, Husbands and wives. All of those who fought and never made it home.
Viet Nam, the war of wars. The sacrifices American soldiers made should have never been; but they were not the only victims nor the only casualties. There are those who lived through Hell and came home to tell. And though I could never know the pain and suffering, the loss of those who survived and of those who died, I hear their stories.
All I have to do is look at the lone soldier standing at the Wall - his head is bowed, his soul is shattered, his heart is broken, and his friend is dead. And as I watch he reaches forward and touches the name of one who fought beside him. He has memories of their talks, of winning, of defeating, of returning home, and of dying, but they never talked of doing these things alone - never alone.
He stands there, lost in his own thoughts, reliving the terror he tries to forget, his shoulders shudder as he he realizes that he didn't come home whole. I watch as a single tear runs down his cheek and for a moment I feel his pain.
All I have to do is to look at the son standing at the Wall, mourning for the father who went to war and returned in a casket. At four years old he could not comprehend what had happened, his father had been taken from him at a very young age in his life. I watch as he runs through the 'what-ifs' in his mind - and he is alone.
I watch as that same single tear runs down his cheek, as he cries for the memories never made and for the very few memories he has to last him a lifetime. For the father he lost, for the grandfather who never knew a grandchild, and the grandchildren that never knew him. The love is there, along with a painful gaping emptiness that never goes away.
All I have to do is stand next to the woman searching for a name on the Wall. I watch as she locates ... the husband? ... the father? ... the brother? So I ask who it is that she has found on the Wall, she turns to look at me with a small bitter-sweet smile on her face. Then softly she starts to speak....
As she begins, she puts her hand to her mouth, I notice the slight tremble as she catches her breath and I listen as she speaks with emotion of the dear brother she has lost in this tragic war. I watch as that same single tear again escapes and runs down her cheek. Together we stand in silence ... then she turns and walks away.
Yes they all have stories, all these 58,219 names on the wall, they were people, they have faces and they have families. If you stand close enough to the "Wall" you can hear the voices too.
Most important you hear the love and the pride of those names on the "Wall", listen closely to the voices of the living and the dead ... they each have a story to tell.
"Ode to the Wall"
Copyright 2002 Tracy A Towery
Dedicated to the many families who lost loved ones to the Viet Nam war,
to those who fought and lived
and to the names on the Viet Nam Wall Memorial
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| Past Featured Remembrances |
 Honored to know your son & grandkids by P Fisher
In Loving Memory by Janice
In Memory of our Brother by Michelle and Vanessa Brown
Memories by Donna Walters
GOD BLESS OUR VETERANS by MARY E.FRAZIER,JARRELL,GULLION
A Poem for Albert Lee Shutting Doors by Brenda J. Baril
Heart of a Lion by Sgt. Gutierrez, R, USMC Ret
AN UNKNOWN FRIEND by Billy M. Butenhoff
Thanks by Anonymous
Johnnie Sewell meet by Gary Lawrence
Your spirit lives in us by Edward Jan Cox Jr.
THE CHICOPEE FLASH by LTC John K. Swensson; USA, Ret
A True Believer Even To The Very End by Dick Arnold
My Unknown Uncle by Steve Haben
Big Brother by Neal Navarro
A Soldier Lost by Ghost, OPS Spec. G14
Soldiers, Sons, and Daughters by Anonymous
My Brother by Frannie
Why Do I Weep at this Wall?? by Daniel C. Elliott
The Final Bridge by Steve Conto
Seventy that day by John R. Lazarczyk
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