Vietnam memorial: More than names

The Bismarck Tribune: Vietnam memorial: More than names

War complicates life, long after the guns are silenced.

The fifth and, perhaps, final Rough Rider Honor Flight returned to Bismarck on Sunday with 125 North Dakota veterans from World War II. They had been to Washington to the visit the World War II Memorial. Those veterans are well on in age, yet the power of the the Honor Flight experience could be readily seen on their faces.

It's not just moving for the veterans, but for family members and patriotic citizens as well.

For veterans of the Vietnam War and their families, the memorial in Washington stands as an awesome touchstone to memories and emotions related to that fight. The memorial lists the names of the American MIAs and war dead. There are 58,265 names etched into the black stone. North Dakotans make up 198 of those names. Visitors to the memorial typically find gifts and mementoes placed adjacent to the wall.

There now is a project under way to gather photographs of the men and women whose names are on the Vietnam Memorial. For each name there should be a face. It will be a powerful statement about war and the sacrifices that are made.

Nationally, about one-third of the photographs have been collected. It's not known how many of the North Dakota photographs have been gathered; hopefully, in the end, all of them will be brought together.

The faces captured by the camera remain young forever. The lives of these men and women were halted and frozen in time. Families and friends of these soldiers have continued the journey. And surviving veterans of that war are now gray and worn. Seeing them together will honor that sacrifice.

It would be wonderful if those 198 photographs of North Dakotans lost in that war could be found. Photos can be submitted through the Internet at www.build the center.org.

In a couple of weeks, it will be Memorial Day. The cemeteries will be aflutter in American flags and red, white and blue bunting. There will be speeches and rifle salutes. Families will be decorating and honoring the memories and graves of veterans, not just from World War II and the Vietnam War, but from all our nation's wars, including those from Afghanistan and Iraq.