Kentucky

I have seen both the "real" memorial and the "traveling tribute" memorial to the Vietnam War.  Both are worth your time; both offer the same but different perspectives on the war and those who died there.  However, I am and was reminded that those names honored on that wall did pay the ultimate sacrifice; but there were others, military and civilian, home and abroad, who served our nation, our families, our friends faithfully too.  All suffered, or as Kentucky's Billy Ray Cyrus said in his song - "Some gave all, all gave some".

The memorial in the heart of our nation's capitol, with walking distances of other war-time memorials, such as Korea, World War II, evokes memories on a national level but driven home by the personal sacrifices of those who's names are carved in stone.

The traveling tribute brings home to us in our  communities, our cities and our towns the meaning and consequences of those sacrifices with the backdrop of the world we live in on a daily basis.  Reading names of those who died in a distant war, a distant time, while seeing familiar sites just beyond the horizon brought it home and brought it home, now.

Both memorials hit me hard and in the same place in my heart.  The journey, however, took different paths and evoked similar but different emotions.

Should you get a chance to witness the memorial, please do so.  Time and place are significant, and location can color our views, memories and judgment.  I am sure that I might see and witness something a little different today knowing we have lost 4000 plus soldiers in the Iraq War and after reading countless stories on the neglect provided those who have returned home with injuries, physical and emotional.

And here is the story:

Traveling Tribute To Vietnam Vets Visits Danville

In two and a half hours on Wednesday, workers erected a half sized replica of the famous Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the lawn of the Norton Center for the Arts in Danville.