Its still there, and it still feels .............

We're entertaining some out of town familiy. They wanted to see DC, rain notwithstanding. We made our way along the National Mall.

The WWII Memorial. New and long overdue.

The Koren War Memorial.

Lincoln and memories of Dr. King and his Dream. Memories of students and their parents, protesting another illigeal war.

And then, there it is again. The black scar across the National Mall. The singularly most haunting, fitting, apt reminder of another time and another place and the same place. Mere steps from the Reflecting Pool and gazed on by Lincoln. The most visitied memorial in a city of memorials and monuments. Along the way I lost count of the people asking where it was and then setting off through the rain to experience it. I was deeply touched by a woman, my own age, who still had on an MIA bracelet with a Navy pilot's name on it. She asked me (excuse me, you were kind enough a few minutes ago to tell us how to get here, can you tell me) why she couldn't find his name on the Wall. "I've had this bracelet more years than I can remember." I didn't know why she couldn't find 'her guy' and told her that. She said she hopes we'll never have a time when, once again, strangers like her will feel a deep need to wear bracelets for men they've never known. I had a tear or three in my eyes by now. We both knew we'd be there again.

One doesn't 'see' the Wall. One doesn't 'visit' the Wall. One *feels* the Wall, just by descending into that black scar. And all the more fitting, just today. In the rain and gloom that is DC.

Sadly, it begs the question of how big the next monument to the fallen will have to be.

58,000 plus .... and to this day still counting ...... is hard to conceive of ever being topped except in a war not unlike WWII.

And while my inclination is to say we'll never see such war again, I know I am wrong to think that.

because it isn't there. If she's wearing an MIA bracelet with his name, he may not have been declared dead.

some MIAs are now listed and their names added. I used to think what you did, but I saw that pamphlet just before entering the walkway .........

to the wall have been confirmed dead. However, there are other MIAs whose status is unknown. I assume the person whose name is on the bracelet falls in that catagory.

even if not confimed dead.

With the addition of four names added in 2005 the total is now 58,249 names listed on the Memorial. Approximately 1200 of these are listed as missing (MIA's, POW's, and others).

Apparently those who are not confirmed dead have a plus (+) next to their name, which is transformed into a diamond if death is confirmed.

http://thewall-usa.com/information

I'm at a loss as to why the name on the bracelet wasn't on the wall.

Don't they deserve recognition. Daniel Ellsburg is a modern-day hero. Where's the monument to his heroism? Benjamin Spock is a GIANT. Where's the monument to his heroism.

And where's the monument to the first hundreds, then thousands, then millions who demonstrated and worked to end the war?

These are memorials to people who make the ultimate sacrifice, and DIED in service to our country.

What their government ordered them to do is entirely separate from the fact that they gave their lives, and left behind friends and families, for the sake of their country.

We need people willing to do that, like it or not. And it's right to honor them on the grounds of the federal government.

I have plenty of respect for anti-war protestors and other patriots. But there are FEW sacrifices like the ones these men and women, and those who loved them, made on behalf of our country.

during the Vietnam-American conflict. Specifically, you should check out the story of Norman Morrison before you conclude unequivocally that anti-war protesters were not also willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.

NB: Norman Morrison's sacrifice so moved the North Vietnamese government that Ho Chi Minh cited it in several speeches as he urged the people of Vietnam to maintain a distinction between the crimes of the American government and the American people generally. All a matter of the public record if you care to check.

So, again, where's the monument to Norman Morrison?