[Leica] The Wall, Ted Grants message, and names

[abridge at dcn.org (Adam Bridge)]

On 4/16/04 <jls@runbox.com (Jeffery Smith)> thoughtfully wrote: 

>
>Unlike WWI or WWII, the Viet Nam war was unique. There was an enormous 
>outcry against the war, from pacifists, from college students, and from 
>friends and family of the soldiers. This put the soldiers in a very awkward 
>position of being pariahs when they returned. There are innumerable Viet 
>Nam vets who have been permanently scarred by having been outcasts after a 
>war that virtually nobody wanted to admit to. I lost friends I had grown up 
>with, and know others who are still terribly adversely affected by the 
>experience. I don't think that a monument to their sacrifice is at all 
>excessive.
>

It was an awful time to be in the military in general. All of us avoided wearing
the uniform in public because it would inevitably (in the San Francisco Bay
area) end up with a nasty remark. My friend Jim and I WERE spat on while driving
my jeep down Union Street in The City.

I contrast it to my son's experience where travelling in uniform usually means a
free drink from a patron at an airport lounge and even a kind word from the
ladies. (Of course HE looks great wearing Navy dress blues - grin). It's a
totally different era. A group of Sailors went to NYC during fleet week, taking
the train down from New London, and went dancing. They got in free and their
money wasn't any good at the bar for sodas. And they never had to look for
someone to dance with.  Amazing.

For me the Wall is the perfect reminder of loss and consequences. A certain
president should stroll there and remember the meaning of it, if he can remember
Vietnam through the alcoholic haze of that period.

Adam Bridge