The Vietnam Memorial Wall

Ed Rasimus writes:


YMMV. When I was there, the paper directory was dog-earred and
tattered. The unpainted plywood easel was distinctly makeshift and
seemed out of place. It looked like an afterthought and was definitely
"least cost provider."

Why can't there be an electronic kiosk? Touchscreen, alphabetical
query, returns graphic display showing location and panel
number...This isn't rocket science.

The Wall is not Rocket Science, either. Many, including me, feel it
is a statement to simplicity; something lacking in the war itself.

I can not imagine anything more jarring and out of place there than
a ...touchscreen.. display. After all, the war itself proved that
technology can't solve every problem.

I don't recall if the directory was originally furnished by the
NPS, or the volunteers. Now, as I recall, there are multiple
err podiums with the list protected by a glass shield.

--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

From: Cub Driver

The Wall is the only man-made thing in the United States that has ever
given me the reverential feeling that I often experienced in the great
cathedrals of Europe.

Quite a contrast with the new WW2 memorial which I visited recently. It did
nothing for me at all. Funny thing is, for years I thought there _was_ a WW2
memorial in DC. I was thinking of the Marines raising the flag statue, which
says all that needs to be said about that war. Sometimes less _is_ more.


Chris Mark

ost (Chris Mark) writes:

The Wall is the only man-made thing in the United States that has ever
given me the reverential feeling that I often experienced in the great
cathedrals of Europe.

Quite a contrast with the new WW2 memorial which I visited recently. It did
nothing for me at all. Funny thing is, for years I thought there _was_ a WW2
memorial in DC. I was thinking of the Marines raising the flag statue, which
says all that needs to be said about that war. Sometimes less _is_ more.

I used to eat lunch at the Iwo Jima statute.

I could rant the new monstro^H^H memorial. But I'll settle for
this. Since the backers DEMANDED [1] it be dead spang in the middle
of the Mall; the result is it must be closed and covered on 4 July.
See, it's where the fireworks might land and damage it....
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/ articles/A56459-2004Jun20.html




[1] The big controversy was/is over its location; not its existence.
--
A host is a host from coast to
& no one will talk to a host that's close........[v].(301) 56-LINUX
Unless the host (that isn't close).........................pob 1433
is busy, hung or dead....................................20915-1433

But, the Wall
is black and buried, a depression in the ground symbolizing the
depression of the nation that did not win the war or respect the men
who fought it.

I think you're wrong on this one, Ed. To me the Wall is the most
beautiful and most moving monument anywhere in the world, the only one
I return to, and the only one that ever made me cry.

In 1989 I went skiing in Switzerland with my daughter, and on the
return trip we got put in separate seats. I was in biz class beside a
Swiss on his way to Washington. I suggested that he visit the Wall,
and set out to explain the concept to him. And by golly I burst into
tears right there. Happily the drinks were free in Swissair biz class.


all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 05:31:27 -0400, Cub Driver
wrote:


But, the Wall
is black and buried, a depression in the ground symbolizing the
depression of the nation that did not win the war or respect the men
who fought it.

I think you're wrong on this one, Ed. To me the Wall is the most
beautiful and most moving monument anywhere in the world, the only one
I return to, and the only one that ever made me cry.

Dan,

I didn't intend to, but I cried as well. Partly from the memories of
old comrades and partly from the frustration with those who did that
to us.

Interestingly enough on Saturday just past, the Denver Post ran an
editorial/obit lionizing David Dellinger of Chicago Seven fame and
showing him in passionate embrace with Jerry Rubin. He was lauded for
his war resistance from WW II through Vietnam and the headline was
about "how much Dellinger taught us."

I sent a letter to the editor asking if the intent was to insult the
veterans of WW II on the day of dedication of their memorial or more
broadly to insult all veterans on Memorial Day weekend.


Ed Rasimus
Fighter Pilot (USAF-Ret)
"When Thunder Rolled"
Smithsonian Institution Press
ISBN #1-58834-103-8

Ed Rasimus wrote:

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 05:31:27 -0400, Cub Driver
wrote:

But, the Wall
is black and buried, a depression in the ground symbolizing the
depression of the nation that did not win the war or respect the men
who fought it.

I think you're wrong on this one, Ed. To me the Wall is the most
beautiful and most moving monument anywhere in the world, the only one
I return to, and the only one that ever made me cry.

Dan,

I didn't intend to, but I cried as well. Partly from the memories of
old comrades and partly from the frustration with those who did that
to us.

That Memorial is *always* the top item on my to-do list whenever
I have a spare moment in Washington.

And I've seen it at every hour of the day, but it is never so
powerful as in the middle of the night.


Billy


http://www.two--four.net/weblog.php

Subject: The Vietnam Memorial Wall
From: Billy Beck
Date: 6/1/04 8:46 AM Pacific Daylight Time
Message-id:


Ed Rasimus wrote:

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 05:31:27 -0400, Cub Driver
wrote:

But, the Wall
is black and buried, a depression in the ground symbolizing the
depression of the nation that did not win the war or respect the men
who fought it.

I think you're wrong on this one, Ed. To me the Wall is the most
beautiful and most moving monument anywhere in the world, the only one
I return to, and the only one that ever made me cry.

Dan,

I didn't intend to, but I cried as well. Partly from the memories of
old comrades and partly from the frustration with those who did that
to us.

That Memorial is *always* the top item on my to-do list whenever
I have a spare moment in Washington.

And I've seen it at every hour of the day, but it is never so
powerful as in the middle of the night.


Billy


http://www.two--four.net/weblog.php


I never go to war memorials. I never go to military cemetaries. I just start
bawling. Guess that is just that part of me that is pure coward.



Arthur Kramer
344th BG 494th BS
England, France, Belgium, Holland, Germany
Visit my WW II B-26 website at:
http://www.coastcomp.com/artkramer

ArtKramr wrote:
I never go to war memorials. I never go to military cemetaries. I just
start
bawling. Guess that is just that part of me that is pure coward.

"Coward"? Like hell, Art.

Speaking for myself only, I see no shame or cowardice (or anything
other than honorable) in feeling the presence of those ghosts... I think
the world would be a far better place if more people felt that way.

Far as that goes, I don't think anyone should be elegible for election
to any office higher than dogcatcher if they can keep their composure
in such a place.


Jeff

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 11:46:09 -0400, Billy Beck wrote:

That Memorial is *always* the top item on my to-do list whenever
I have a spare moment in Washington.

And I've seen it at every hour of the day, but it is never so
powerful as in the middle of the night.

I've been there three times so far. It's never exactly where I expect it
to be and it always manages to sneak up on me. I'm always looking far
forward when, with a start, I realize it's slowly been rising up next to me
off to my right (I always approach it from the direction of the Capitol).

--

-Jeff B.
yeff at erols dot com

On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 11:59:54 -0400, Yeff wrote:

On Tue, 01 Jun 2004 11:46:09 -0400, Billy Beck wrote:

That Memorial is *always* the top item on my to-do list whenever
I have a spare moment in Washington.

And I've seen it at every hour of the day, but it is never so
powerful as in the middle of the night.

I've been there three times so far. It's never exactly where I expect it
to be and it always manages to sneak up on me. I'm always looking far
forward when, with a start, I realize it's slowly been rising up next to me
off to my right (I always approach it from the direction of the Capitol).

It used to catch me by surprise, too. I've gotten used to it.

Here is something that I discovered the last time I was the

If you consider the Wall (in plan view) as two long quadrangles
sharing the same line at the angle in the center of the Wall, that
line points almost directly at the statue of Albert Einstein at the
National Academy of Sciences, across Constitution Avenue. If you
stood on the sidewalk immediately adjacent to the statue and facing
with your shoulders parallel to Constitution Avenue, and then turned
to your left to about 10 o'clock and began walking, you would walk
about three hundred yards before stepping right off the top of the
Wall at its angle.


Billy

http://www.two--four.net/weblog.php