my name is on the wall

In 1970, I completed my basic training at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. After that, I received advanced training at Ft. Eustis, Virginia, where I was trained to be a helicopter repairman (my MOS was 67N20)

(Since Ft. Bragg was named after a Confederate General, it was recently renamed Fort Liberty. Fort Eustis was named after Abraham Eustis, whose Army career ended more than a decade before the start of the Civil War).

Because Ft. Eustis is fairly close to Washington, D.C, I was able to travel there a couple of times when I was still in the Army. Mt last trip there was in the early 1980’s, when we took an excursion bus to the city from our vacation condo in Manassas, Virginia.

On that last trip, we saw Arlington cemetery, Ford theatre, the Smithsonian Institute, the Air and Space Museum, and the Koran War memorial.

We also saw the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall

 https://virtualwall.org/

One of the names on the wall is Donald J. Lundequam, who was my cousin.

https://virtualwall.org/dl/LundequamDJ01a.htm

Donnie was a Huey pilot, and he was shot down on June 5, 1970 after being “in country” for about 90 days. On June 5, I was in basic training at Ft. Bragg, so his death hit pretty hard.

Ironically, his mother was my father’s youngest sister. Dad’s oldest sister also lost a son, when Edward Bloomstrand perished on Iwo Jima.

My old neighbor, Larry Kusilek also died there, as did a classmate named Patrick Mercier.

There’s another name on the wall that you’ll also recognize.

Thomas Brennan

https://virtualwall.org/db/BrennanTJ01a.htm

Thomas J. Brennan was born 12 days before I was, and he died in June of 1968, just after I finished my junior year in college. Although he was not a combat victim, his body was recovered after being declared missing in action. Like me, he was trained as a helicopter repairman.

The United Stats has been involved in dozens of wars and military actions since 1775. The Civil War was the costliest, when there were over 600,000 military deaths. WWII was next, with slightly more than 400,000 military deaths. Vietnam is ranked #4, with 58, 209 military deaths. Both the Gulf War and the Iraq war was modest in terms of military deaths, but very expensive in terms of dollars cost.

Both the Vietnam War and the Gulf War were started under false pretenses, but that does not diminish the bravery of the men (and women) who fought in those wars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_casualties_of_war

The last time I renewed my license, I had it modified to show that I was a military veteran, even though my time in the service was 6 years in the Army National Guard. That status gets my a 10% discount at Loew’s , and it also saved me $500 when I bought my new Hyundai in 2017.

Both my dad and my father-in-law served during WWII, and both are buried at Ft. Snelling in St. Paul. Minnesota. Although I HAVE been to their graves s few times when we lived in Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin, living in Arizona makes any further trips there impractical.

 Many of the people whose names are on the Vietnam wall were people who were in their 20’s when they died. If they were still alive today, they would be roughly my age, a fact that was brought home by a recent editorial cartoon in the Washington Post.

 You’re free to enjoy the Memorial Day holiday any way that you want to, but if you get a chance, be sure to do that one thing that really matters.

Thank a vet.