Since 1984 I’ve lived in the Richmond, VA suburb of Mechanicsville. For me to drive from my house to the heart of Washington, DC takes less than two hours. Over the last twenty-three years I’ve made that trip several times. I’ve gone for the express purpose of visiting the Vietnam War Memorial. I was there just three weeks ago.
For those here today who have never had the opportunity to go to this hallowed place let me describe it to you and share with you the experience through my eyes.
The memorial consists of three separate elements: The Three Soldiers Statue, the Womens’ Memorial and the original, signature section, the Memorial Wall, which is made of reflective black granite and lists the names of each of the 58,000 American service men and women who lost their lives in Vietnam in the late 1950s, the 1960’s and early 1970’s.
“The Wall” is almost two football fields long. It is completely exposed to the open air, yet is entirely below ground level with the first panel on either end of the memorial only eight inches high. The sidewalk next to the wall gradually descends until it reaches the center which has a height of just over ten feet.
This is a place where grown men openly weep for their brothers, childhood friends and comrades-in-arms. It is a healing place for wounds of the soul that have long needed repair. And it is a place of reverence. For we, and the generations that follow us, owe so very much to these men and women who forfeited their lives for us.
As I slowly walk toward the center I become acutely aware of the memorial’s impact on me. I am overwhelmed with the enormity, the emotion and the reality of this very special place. The farther I descend down the walkway the more I feel I am being cradled in the arms of all whose names are engraved into the wall. I feel a sense of security…That those who are honored there will make sure no harm will come to me.
Each time I visit the memorial I stop when I reach panel 25W. I count down from the top of the wall to line 10. And there I see his name: Michael L. Christmas. In my mind I can clearly see him. I see him as I remember him when we were seniors at Camden High School. I see that flat top haircut. I can’t imagine him wearing his hair any other way. I can hear his voice with its’ distinctive timbre. And I can see his smile! To me it was more of a grin than a smile. It was contagious, too. When Michael Christmas smiled at you, you had to smile at him in return.
His was not a high profile personality. But just about everyone in the Class of ’65 knew him and fondly remembers him to this day, more than four decades since we graduated.
The quality of our lives is largely influenced by the people we meet, by those we associate with and the friendships we forge along the way. Michael enriched the lives of all with whom he came in contact. He was truly one of the good guys of this world.
At panel 25W I generally spend several minutes reflecting upon my high school classmate. Then I look to my left and then to my right. The names of others whose destinies crossed paths with mine are there somewhere on the wall, I just don’t know where. I never met them but I was present at their funerals. You see, I was attached to their military honor guards. I was the soldier who played “Taps” for them, their families and their friends. I’ve always hoped I might have brought at least a temporary sense of calm to the chaos present in the lives of their loved ones at the time. I hope that’s what Michael’s bugler did for those near and dear to him.
As I stroll back up the walkway toward the Lincoln Memorial I turn around and look at the wall in its’ entirety. I had the honor of knowing only one person whose name is recognized among the more than 58,000 there. But I’m grateful to all of them. I’m also grateful to the many hundreds of thousands of Americans who served in South Vietnam and survived. But for the Grace of God their names could be on the wall. To me they were all heroes.
There are those in our society who have long insisted the United States should never have been involved in South Vietnam, that we were there for all the wrong reasons and, as a result, lost the war.
Michael, if you are watching us here today my guess is that your view of 20th century world history is very much to the contrary.
And that’s because of the self-evident historical truths that have quietly surfaced with the passage of time, validating our presence in Vietnam.
It is true that from an overall military perspective the United States did not accomplish victory in Vietnam. It is also true it did not suffer defeat.
I remember, as students at Camden High School during the early days of the Vietnam Conflict, our government told us and all Americans that our presence in Vietnam was necessary and that our mission was to stop the “domino effect” of one Southeast Asian country after another falling to the cancer of Soviet-style Communism.
Conventional wisdom in the 1960s was that for the United States to accomplish this goal an unconditional surrender by our enemies would have to be attained. That piece of “conventional wisdom” could not have been more wrong. Our military presence in Vietnam was the first step toward halting the spread of Moscow’s influence around the world and became the springboard that led to the eventual collapse of the USSR. In the end the United States scored a resounding Cold War victory because, like a forest fire about to be extinguished, Soviet-style communism was contained, cut off from the nourishment necessary to survive and expand. It ultimately burned out, falling upon what Ronald Reagan called the “ash heap of history”.
Our mission was, indeed, accomplished.
Michael, the freedoms that Americans and countless others throughout the world continue to enjoy are, in part, possible because of you and the other 58,000 whose names neighbor yours on The Wall in Washington.
You willingly answered your country’s call to duty. When your country asked you to place yourself in harm’s way in Southeast Asia you did so. For all of us you made the Supreme Sacrifice in the name of freedom. We will be in your debt forever.
Those of us who had the good fortune to know you will never forget you.
Michael, we thank you.
I have not been to the Memorial Wall in Washington, but I have visited the replica when it was in Atlanta several years ago for the express purpose of finding Michael's name and I can attest to the powerful emotions felt even today when thinking of that moment. I can see it in my mind's eye as if it were yesterday even though it was probably 30+ years ago!
Jim, well said!
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