Vietnam Remembered

We spent Father's Day not far from our hometown.  I have been telling Ken about the Craft Fair and Car Show at the historic home of the first owners of the area, where our hometown now stands.  I've been going  there for years with my kids.  Ken was really interested in checking it out.  

But first we HAD to stop by Boonville.  I had seen on the Lewis County Facebook page where the Traveling Vietnam War memorial was coming to town.  This was an opportunity that none of us wanted to miss. 

                                                 

When my friend posted this video on the Facebook group I was awestruck. The original request was for "some" bikes to escort The Wall from Lowville's VFW  (Veterans of Foreign Wars) to Boonville's VFW, 27 miles south.  The amazing turnout of 253 motorcycles had to be relocated to the hospital parking lot next door to the VFW in Lowville. Various photos posted look like they completely emptied the hospital parking lot of cars, to accommodate the bikes.  Lowville's fire department had raised their ladders, and draped flags from them, so that the procession passed underneath them as they came through town.  I have to admit that I became choked up when I saw the trailer containing The Wall pass through.  I had the same feeling that I get when I see a hearse.  Sadness.

This is a video of the 253 motorcycles that escorted the Vietnam War Living Wall Memorial through Lowville, New York.
It was posted by Eric Townsend on Wednesday, June 17, 2015

When we arrived at the VFW in Boonville, we were greeted by members of the local VFW who had served in Vietnam.  These men were directing the traffic into the parking area at the end of the dead-end street, where the memorial was set up.  Walking up to the memorial changed all of our moods into silent reverence.  I would ask Amanda to take certain shots, but otherwise we rarely spoke.  

Despite this being a miniature version, the number of names on this wall was heart-wrenching. I don't know anyone personally who died in this war, but I knew of a local dentist's son, who lost his life there. 

Such emotions.  This memorial was placed by a man who lost his brother. The photo of the two men was the last taken of his brother before his death. 

Beautiful words...

These statistics are staggering. 

After this solemn stop, we headed off to Constable Hall. I'll be posting that in my next blog in a couple of days.

I will end this blog with photos of the timeline of the Vietnam War. You may need to download them to read them properly, but I wanted to share the information with you all.