This Memorial Day weekend I had the opportunity to visit Washington, D.C. and visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial for the first time. I'd like to share with you the events of my weekend. I'm not going to get into the emotions and feelings felt as I walked The Wall. Mainly because there just aren't words that could come close to explaining what I felt. Those brothers and sisters who have visited know exactly what I mean.I landed in Baltimore at 12:45am Friday morning and was met by a fellow brother (veteran) Don Lechner. We drove to Washington where I checked in to my hotel and we talked for an hour or so before finally putting our heads down for the night. I awoke at 6:30 to find Don gone so I got ready and went for coffee. I then walked to the Mall. All day I walked the Mall and viewed the various monuments with the exception of The Wall and the Korean Monument. I had promised Nikki that I would wait for her before going to those two. Late morning I was sitting on a park bench doing some people watching when I saw a park ranger by the ranger station. He looked familiar to me so I walked up to him and looked at his name tag. It said John Devlin. I knew who he was but I asked him if he knew Nikki Mendicino and he said yes. I told him I was Doc. Well... John, also being a Vietnam Veteran, threw his arms around me and thus began a new wonderful friendship. He knew of me through Nikki and her family. For those of you who know me you have certainly heard me mention and/or praise Nikki Mendicino. I met Nikki and her family on Friday evening at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. That is when my weekend actually began. After some hugging we all headed off to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. First we stopped at the Three Soldiers Statue and paid our respects and took some pictures. Next it was on to The Wall. I was proud to have this sweet young lady walking by my side as we walked along that long black granite wall and viewed the names and the many mementos left by loved ones, friends and brothers and sisters who served with those whose names are engraved there. Although there were a multitude of people there wasn't a sound to be heard other than an occasional sob or one talking in a low keyed voice. This was the first of many visits over the weekend but it was a very special one because of who was by my side. We arrived back at the hotel at 1:30am.
The next day we awoke to rain but it didn't dampen our spirits. I eagerly waited in the lobby of the hotel for Nikki and her family. This morning we were heading to Run For The Wall's wreath laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cememtery. I had been to Arlington 30 years ago to lay to rest a fallen brother from the Vietnam War when I was a Military Escort. I hadn't been back since. We missed the actual wreath laying but we stayed for the Changing of the Guard. The precision of which was a sight in itself.
From Arlington we went back to the Mall and visited The Wall again. I was to meet a very good friend (Bruce Hill) by the Three Soldier's Statue. This was a friend whom I'd met on the net and known for several years but I wasn't sure what he looked like. He told me he'd be wearing his beret. Well... there were several with berets on. The first one I walked up to was my friend. We embraced and of course I became an emotional wreck immediately. But I found if one is to become emotional this is the place to do it. It's very commonplace here. It's almost impossible to not be emotional. We stood in the rain and talked for awhile while I waited for Nikki and her mom to come over. I had told her that Bruce wanted to meet Nikki. After they met and spoke for a few minutes we took some pictures and parted ways for the rest of the day. I was to meet Bruce there again on Sunday. A little while later we walked The Wall again and while I was taking some pictures of the Nurses Memorial I turned around and saw Nikki talking to a vet and his wife. I walked over and immediately recognized him as he had sent me a picture a few days earlier. It was Dave Meyers and his wife Christy. Dave is a victim of Hep C and about a month earlier I received a message saying that Dave needed financial help to get to The Wall. That this could be the last year he would be able to make it health wise. I sent out an SOS to my mailing list and about a week or two later I received a very nice message from one very excited veteran. It was from Dave thanking me for helping out and telling me that he is all set to go. That's just a small example of how this thing we call our brotherhood works. God Bless ya Dave... I was happy to be able to help. We made our way to Thunder Alley where many vendors gather with t-shirts and just about anything POW/MIA or military or motorcycle related. Here I met Patty and Earl Hooper of Task Force Omega whom I've know via the net for several years as well as Ted Sampley. Ted was instrumental in bringing to light the fact that the Vietnam soldier, Lt. Michael Blassie, laid to rest in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was indeed known and how our government knew this when they laid him to rest. This afternoon I also met Rich Palmeri ane Jack Gentile of American Veteran Search. I had just done a couple of graphics for their site a week earlier.
We all went back to the hotel to freshen up for the Rolling Thunder dinner and meeting at the Holiday Inn in Arlington. This was another awesome sight. Motorcycles everywhere. At the meeting Nikki was honored and presented with a Rolling Thunder jacket and made an honorary junior member of Rolling Thunder. John Mendes, vice president of Rolling Thunder made a speech and presented Nikki with the jacket. There wasn't too many dry eyes in the place and this old boy, as well as everyone present were very proud of her.
Sunday was to be another early day. I was awakened by a knock at my door at 6:45am. When I opened it there stood another very good vet friend whom I'd met on the net, Bud Shott. Bud and I had become very close over the past few years. I've always looked up to him with much respect. We hugged several times and then went to breakfast. Nikki had to be at the Pentagon parking lot early so her mom drove us all to the Mall and then took Nikki to the parking lot where Rolling Thunder was gathering for their ride into D.C. CNN estimated 250,000 motorcycles there this year. Nikki rode in with John Mendes at the head of the pack.
From there we walked to the Reflecting Pool where Nikki was to speak before tens of thousands after Miss America (Heather French). Speak she did!!! There were tears and applauses continuously and for sometime afterwards. Afterwards people kept coming up to her giving her hugs and talking with her. This went on for several hours. Now if we could get her on the floor of the House and Senate and give that very same speech, perhaps we'd get somewhere with gaining a full accounting of our POW/MIAs. God Bless you Nikki. We are all so very proud of you. I must add here that Heather French is also a very powerful speaker and she's one hundred percent behind our country's veterans and an advocate for Hep C. and our homeless vets. Thank you Heather. We then walked The Wall again this time leaving our own special mementos for those we knew there. I knew three. One I went through basic training with, one I brought home when I was a Military Escort and came to know his family very well and the last was the name on the POW/MIA bracelet I've worn for 29 years which I left at The Wall and purchased a new one. This afternoon I also "accidently" met Mike Meyers of Point Man Misistries. I saw Mikes nametag and asked him if he was on the net. He said yes and I told him I was Doc Gecko. Well... there we went again with the hugs and the tears. But, oh, what a good feeling. Mike and I had exchanged emails many times over the past couple of years. Today I also had the honor of meeting Mike Benge. Mike is an ex-POW of the Vietnam War whom I've corresponded with several times through email when I questioned whether someone was actually an ex-POW or a phoney. Mike has a page called Wall of Shame with names of those who claim to be but are not ex-POWs.
On Monday we left the hotel quite late. We went to the Memorial Day service at The Wall. We all sat in the VIP section and listened to the service which was very moving. There were many speakers and of course Taps was played. Afterwards we all mingled among the speakers and again I met up with Bruce Hill and his daughter Kim and spend some (not nearly enough) quality time together. From there we went to the Smithsonian Institute then back to The Wall where we met up with John Devlin again and another ranger name of Ross. (sorry Ross, I forgot your last name... but I do remember it was one of those long Italian names ;-)) Ross wanted to introduce Nikki to his very good friend who was on The Wall. We all walked together and Ross told a story of how he knew this brother and how he died. A crowd gathered as he spoke. As we walked away from The Wall a group of young people were coming in and they all had envelopes in hand. One young lady came up to me and asked me if I was a veteran. I said yes and she said thank you and handed me an envelope. We hugged and (again through tears) I said thank you. We later read the letters (we were each given one) and knew we had to meet the author. We found that she was there and she was pointed out to us. We walked up to her and called her name. We thanked her for her beautiful letter and we hugged and took pictures. Her name was Rebekah. After leaving The Wall for the last time (this trip) we all went out to dinner along with Ross and John Devlin. To say it was a memorable weekend is a gross understatement.
For all my brothers and sisters who have wanted to visit the memorial but do not feel they are ready or strong enough... all I can say is DO IT!!! After all I saw there this past weekend, I fully understand where it got the nickname "the wall that heals". It has brought peace to so very many, I pray it will bring peace to all of you who make the visit. It is a very powerful place. Those who have been there know exactly what I mean, those who haven't, no words could explain.
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