Today we started our trek around the Washington D.C. landmarks and memorials at The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial. For me, this memorial was the one that touched home the most for me because of actually see the names of the service members of the U.S. armed forces who fought in the Vietnam War, service members who died in service in Vietnam/South East Asia, and the service members who were unaccounted for (Missing In Action) during the War.
The Vietnam War lasted from 1955-1975 and about 58,220 U.S. service members died in the conflict. It was so sad seeing all the names as I walked along the wall. Mom and Dad were looking for two specific names; one was dad’s friend’s older brother from Iowa. The other name was dad’s friend and coworker’s older brother who had passed away in the war. I didn’t know that that there was a “Sole Survivor Policy,” a regulation designed to protect members of a family from the draft or from combat duty if they have already lost family members in military service. Because of this policy Uncle Ken did not have to serve in the military. There was a woman there working at the memorial helping family, friends and visitors find names and she was nice enough to give us a piece a paper and a crayon to take a copy of his name back home to Uncle Ken.
