Duty, Honor and Coutry - An update from Rep. Ingraham

This past Monday, November 11th, we were able to celebrate Veterans Day, a day set aside for remembering those lost and harmed while serving our country, for remembering those who have served and returned and for remembering those currently serving our country in the Armed Forces.

Today, November 13th, is another opportunity to reflect on the service men and women who served on one of the longest and most controversial wars in the United States history, that of the Vietnam/South East Asia war. November 13th was that moment in our country’s history when the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated to honor U.S. service members who fought in the Vietnam War. The goal of the memorial was to reflect on our service members who served in Vietnam/South East Asia and were killed or missing in action, forever remembering those men and women and ensuring we’d never forget their sacrifices.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated on November 13th, 1982. The Memorial initially began with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and now currently consists of three separate parts, the Three Soldiers statue, the Vietnam Women’s Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, which is the best-known part of the memorial.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was designed by Maya Lin, an American architect. The Memorial is made up of two walls 246 feet 9 inches long, with the highest tip where the walls meet at 10.1 feet in height, that taper to a height of 8 inches at their extremities. The stone that was used for the wall came from Bangalore, Karnataka, India and was deliberately chosen because of its reflective quality. When visitors look upon the walls inscribed with the names of servicemen who were either confirmed to be Killed in Action or Missing in Action during the Vietnam War, because of the stones’ unique reflective quality, the visitors’ reflection can be seen simultaneously with the engraved names, which is meant to symbolically bring the past and the present together.

The Three Soldiers, another portion of the Vietnam memorial, was unveiled in 1984 and depicts three soldiers, purposefully identifiable as White American, African American and Hispanic American. This memorial was arranged so that the statues and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall appear to interact with each other, with the soldiers looking on in solemn tribute at the names of their fallen comrades.

The Vietnam Women’s Memorial was dedicated on November 11, 1993. The memorial depicts a figure of a kneeling woman holding an empty helmet as is meant to be a testament to a group of American women who made an extraordinary sacrifice at an extraordinary time in our nation’s history, the women who went to war in Vietnam.

While many us may never have the opportunity to make it to Washington D.C. to see this amazing memorial, you may have the opportunity to visit the “Moving Wall,” a half size replica of the memorial. The “Moving Wall” was the vision of Vietnam veteran John Devitt, who attended the 1982 dedication ceremony of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and who recognized the healing nature of the Wall. With the help and dedication of friends, they created a half-size replica of the memorial and named it “The Moving Wall.” It was built and first displayed to the public in 1984. From its humble beginning, it has had the opportunity to visit hundreds of small towns and cities throughout the United States so that others might experience this opportunity to heal from the wounds left behind.

Through memorials such as these and the special days that have been set aside to honor those who have answered the call of “Duty, Honor & Country,” lest us not forget to remember those Americans who have, who are and who will one day be serving our country in the Armed Forces of these United States of America!

Now it’s your turn to “Keep in Touch” by contacting me regarding your questions, concerns or just to talk. I can be reached via e-mail at pathd13@blackfoot.net, or call me at 827-4652 or by mail at P.O. Box 1151, Thompson Falls, Montana 59873.