Reporting from DC - a soldier gave back his medals at the WALL (10/24/03)

[diamond14]

Friday night - Veterans for Peace memorial service at the Vietnam Wall....there were soldiers there from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, GW1 and other wars, and families of Veterans, and families of some soldiers KILLED in Iraq, and serving in Iraq....a great Patriotic crowd, against the Iraq war....there are soldiers arriving from all over America - Veterans for Peace.....for the BIG March on Saturday, October 25, 2003.....

it was a moving ceremony...at towards the end, a small group of young students from North Carolina joined us...and they walked with me to the WALL (the ceremony was a small hill near the WALL....and these students (4 young men and a young woman) has not been to the WALL before...as we walked, I asked them if they knew anyone on the WALL, which they did not...so I asked them if they wanted to walk with me to Charlie's panel #7E, my cousin who was 19 years old when he was killed in Vietnam, gave his life and could not even vote, silver star for valor, purple heart, HM3 medic....

so we all walked together on that long long long walk past all the names of a whole generation, that long long walk, that trail of tears....and as we got to the middle area, there was a older man on crutches wearing a red beret and a military jacket, and he walked on crutches (the National Park Service really needs to get a few benches in there for OUR soldiers to rest on for that long long walk)...and the older man got down on the ground and left a small narrow box at the base of the WALL...and because of his crutches, I leaned down and put out my arm to help him up...and I asked him what he left at the base of the WALL...and he said: "my medals"....

because of the young men who accompanied me to the WALL....I asked the soldier if I could look at his medals...and he said 'yes', so I picked up the narrow box and opened it, and it had a one page note folded up in the box, written in small letters on BOTH sides, and TWO medals....I told the soldier that the Smithsonian Museum picks up everything left at the Wall, and keeps it, putting some items on display in the Museum...and he smiled, because he hadn't known that...the soldier was also from North Carolina, and it seems like fate that young men from North Carolina were also there...

so the soldier said that I could read his note for the young men...and I struggled to hold back my tears, as I read the note loudly and patriotically as I could...and when I finally looked up, there were at least 20 people in tears....this brave soldier was giving back his medals, because of the war in Iraq....

I asked the soldier if he was coming to the March even with crutches...he told me that he had NO LEGS...but he was planning to go to the March in a wheelchair....and he was pleased to learn that there are disability coordinators, transport vehicles, medical personnel, and wheelchair accessible bathrooms for the March....and we all shook hands and thanked the soldier and I laid the medals back at the base of the WALL, in the middle, where the WALL splits into West and East...and thanked the soldier for his service to our country....

then the students came with me, seven more panels from the middle to panel #7E...and they held up their flashlights and pointed to Charlie's name...they said now they knew someone on the WALL...so I looked up at the stars and asked Charlie and everybody else on that WALL to walk with us tomorrow...and BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW !!!

[Bozita]

1. OMG, that's moving... It's hard to type with watery eyes.

Must be allergies.

Thank you.

Spread that far and wide.

[kwolf68]

2. Wonderful story

I trust he would not be called a traitor by those who are blindly following this war. He (like Max Cleland) left parts of his body in Asia ... at the very least he demands a certain degree of respect.

[Eloriel]

3. Thank you, amen

And God bless our veterans who are organizing for peace. They alone can speak with a voice of authority no one else can. There's something undeniably powerful about a warrior's voice saying, "NO" to a war.

Eloriel

[Jackie97]

23. A veteran's voice.

It is unbelievably powerful. That's not just because they are veterans. It's because when one hears them speak, they don't just hear facts about what's going on (unlike with many other speakers). They hear patriotism (which is appealing to many). Most importantly though, these people many of times know just how to get down to the very heart of the matter. I think that veterans make up a lot of the heart and soul of the anti-war movement. I think the best veteran speaker that I've heard was Lou Plummer (also from North Carolina). Everytime he speaks, he does so with such charisma. The last time I heard him speak, people just cheered when he was through. I could actually hear redneck type of noises in the audience. LOL.

[Girlfriday]

4. Thank you Amen

Thanks so much for sharing your experience with those of us who can't be there with you. :cry:



God, how I HATE these bastards!

[diamond14]

5. it was totally accidental that I even went to the WALL,.....it upsets me

to go there...but with the students, I figured I should go....it was kind of nice in a way, that the soldier wasn't just totally alone leaving his medals there...that others joined him, and congratulated him on an obviously difficult decision (the letter was well thought out), and that I managed to read the soldiers letter without breaking down, mustering up everything I had to do it, and so, it became a bit of a ceremony right in front of 58,000 spirits and a few live observers, and the soldier seemed quite pleased about it (can't we get some benches at the WALL???)...I get too upset still about Charlie so I stay away from the WALL, but maybe tonight it was meant to be, and it is still upsetting me now, even though I am at home...I've got to get some sleep now...rest up for the March in the morning....

everybody who cannot be here with us...send us your good thoughts...
you can watch on C-span...and there will be coverage later from DC IndyMedia and on Democratic Underground??? and other sites, hopefully, and maybe even in a BIG paper or two....there's a whole committee doing "media" for the March....

we are expecting a very BIG crowd....those who can join us, please come...we are walking for America's future...and to BRING OUR TROOPS HOME NOW !!!!!

[InkAddict]

9. My thoughts do go w/you and the thousands that march!

Traveled to the march in DC in January on a bit of savings (what a sad but purposeful way to spend one's B-day); but now there's no savings left and the physical deaths of our soldiers and the outrages against our Constitution at home continue to feed the rage against this immoral admin, so now probably can't ever go back there --

Is karma biting back? - way back then, a useful skill (computers) selfishly(?) served to keep my man safe by service at the Pentagon so you know what conflictedness has been engraved upon the heart on viewing that Wall, it can hardly hold it. (Hey, back then I didn't cut the orders; neither had I ever run into Ben Franklin's quote about security. I struggle to find out if it was directed my way) See, now you've got me blind with guilty fury and bawling my eyes out...

PS: I've been on the Mall on 4th of July too - half a million people is one awesome sight of strength -- diversity in solidarity - the impact of such a sight...oh my, I can't speak it!!!!!

LOUDER STILL THE MESSAGE OF SO MANY HEINOUS TREASONOUS LIES!

[VolcanoJen]

6. Thank you so much, amen.

I was just at the Wall last weekend, and couldn't help but notice the troubled faces, more troubled than usual, as I visited. Your story drove it home. And thank you for helping the soldier express himself.

I love your idea about the benches at the Memorial. This is something we could really get behind, and I'd like to see it happen. Who do we contact to get it done? Our Vietnam veterans are getting older, and some are wounded in more ways than one can see. Benches that provide them comfort while they contemplate the memorial seems like the least we could do for them. I'm behind it 100% if you want to get the ball rolling.

- Jennifer

[E_Zapata]

7. I am weeping.................

God bless you. And Charlie. And the soldier who gave his medals up. And to those brave young (and safe for now) boys from NC.

I can't get to either coast - but I will be with all of you in spirit tomorrow!

[seventhson]

8. We NEED a WALL for the Iraq soldiers dead

American soldiers

we also need one for the Iraqi dead

[LibDemAlways]

18. Seems to me the Iraq memorial should be financed

by Halliburton and Bechtel since they are the ones profitting from this obscenity.

[NNN0LHI]

10. Thanks for posting this amen1234 n/t

[VLC98]

11. Thank you....

that was the most touching thing I have read in a long time. What a hero that old man is. Also, as an Air Force wife, I would like to thank you for going to the protest. I'm sure there are many of us that would like to go but are unable. I will be thinking of you.

[9215]

12. Whew, these are the kind of stories

the Press needs to cover. There are some very angry veterans out there, who see through the propoganda.

Thanks for this story friend.

[Spazito]

13. Very moving, thank you for posting this

*

[Mari333]

14. The media whores will not show the body bags, the caskets

or the soldiers dying and dead nor will they cover this soldiers brave deed/
There is no honour in this war. None at all. The soldiers in this invasion are fodder for wealthy corporate whores.

[flpoljunkie]

16. Our Iraq war dead are shipped into Dover in the middle of the night...

and the press is forbidden to capture on film the removal of the soldier's coffins from the bellies of the planes, unlike the Vietnam War. Cheney stopped this practice during the first Gulf War.

This is disgraceful and dishonors the ultimate sacrifice these soldiers have made. I am old enough to remember seeing the return home for burial of the Vietnam war dead at Dover Air Base. It was an incredibly powerful ritual.

The Bush administration is afraid that if the American people saw this most solemn and moving ceremony, it would make plain the folly of this unnecessary, "preemptive" war in Iraq. Shame on them!

[LunaC]

15. May I ask.....

what did his note say?

(Your comments are incredibly touching and I've read this twice - late last night and again this morning - and both times I've been moved to tears. Living in the midst of the BFEE, it's heartening to know how much love and light, compassion, empathy and understanding flourishes amongst kindred spirits of heart and soul. Thank you for sharing this so poignantly!)

Will Pitt - if you happen across this - please consider this beautiful story as the focus of your next editorial....it paints such a heartfelt and powerful picture!

[JohnGideon]

17. Thank you for sharing that with us, Amen

I am a disabled Viet Nam Vet and stories like this are so important for everyone to read or hear. Thank you for sharing with us.

[juajen]

19. This story should be covered by Keith Olberman

Will someone send it to him, or should I?

This country needs to take a long hard look at who really sacrifices for the military-industrial complex agenda.

[nostamj]

20. damn...

today at the rally, the one speaker that broke my heart and brought on tears was the father of a soldier killed in Iraq.

I was VERY close to the stage and watched him, looking utterly terrified, cross himself quickly before he stepped to the mike...

and delivered a devastating RANT in spanish (there was a translator) but, you didn't need it to understand his RAGE and PAIN.

for me, THE highlight of the rally...

more tomorrow when I recover and reflect a bit

[loudnclear]

21. Will FOX report on this? You, know...'fair and balanced' as they are.

Will any major media report on this?

[Jackie97]

22. That almost puts me in tears.

Thanks for posting that.