Saturday, April 17, 2010

The Viet Nam Wall

Several years ago I was able to visit the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C. It was quite an emotional experience because of the design of the Memorial and the crowd's strong feelings.

I had quite a few friends who went to Vietnam and one who was killed. I can still remember the day I heard of his death and how shocked I was that someone I knew had died at a very young age.

War is terrible. The death, destruction and evil that occur are beyond description. Yet, it seems that wars are necessary evils. Christian theologians talk about what are called, "Just Wars". No matter how just or unjust they are, lives, families and histories are destroyed in them.

As a Christian I believe in eternal life through faith in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. This wall reminds me that people die every day. Mortality is 100% for all of us so it reminds me to live like I was dying. Maybe you will pause and reflect upon your own mortality and your eternal life.

The enclosed link will take you to a site designed to be a "virtual wall" with the names, ranks and home places of every person killed in that far away war. I clicked it and found the names of people who died from my neck of the woods. I hope it will help some people honor friends and family members on the list.

Click on the site at the bottom then chose a state. First click on a state. When it opens, scroll down to the city and the names will appear. Then click on their names. It should show you a picture of the person, or at least their bio and medals.

This really is an amazing web site. Someone spent a lot of time and effort to create it.

I hope that everyone who receives this appreciates what those who served in Vietnam sacrificed for our country.
The link below is a virtual wall of all those lost during the Vietnam war with the names, bio's and other information on our lost heroes. Those who remember that time frame, or perhaps lost friends or family can look them up on this site.
Pass the link on to others if you like.

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