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| Veterans For Peace 2019 Memorial Day ceremony, NYC (photo/Jan Barry) |
Today,
members and friends of Veterans For Peace are placing envelopes at the Vietnam Veterans
Memorial in Washington, DC containing letters to and for the dead to be shared
with visitors paying respects this Memorial Day to the ghosts whose names grace
that wall. The letters were written by veterans, military family members, war protestors,
peace activists—all stirred to speak by the consequences of the endless, dinning
drums of war—from across America.
Here
is my contribution to this grassroots commemoration of what we’ve lost to war. I
read it yesterday at a gathering of Veterans For Peace members and friends at the
Battery in New York City. The event included a procession carrying a
flag-draped coffin from war memorial to war memorial to war memorial. Around us
swirled crowds of people from around the world boarding and departing tour
boats to the Statue of Liberty. Battlefields where American soldiers, sailors,
marines, airmen and women in uniform died span the world. The names of all the
dead could fill a wall beyond imagination. Just imagine the life cut short of
one name.
At
the Wall in Washington
The
Vietnam Wall is where the dead
Greet
the living eye to eye—
Face
it, your eyes
Staring
back from the black marble
Framing
a soldier’s name—
Your
soul and his startlingly entwined
Jan
Barry
US
Army Vietnam 1962-63
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