An emotional trip to Washington DC

 Last week my wife and I made a brief trip to the nation's capitol for a special ceremony. Her father, Dr James Lampky was laid to rest at Arlington National during a moving service that included an honor guard, 21 gun salute and taps. The staff at Arlington were very professional and respectful and treated us as if we were the only service that day -even though there were many others. Her dad served in the US Army at the end of WW II and his urn was placed in a section among those of his peers. 

As I looked around the vast grounds that makes up this most hallowed place, I was reminded of the sacrifices made over the years to preserve our way of life. I recalled the old Crosby, Stills & Nash tune from my youth - "Find The Cost of Freedom Burried in The Ground"    Unfortunately a pre-planned luncheon prevented us from seeing the entire grounds but what I did see was reason enoungh to pause and reflect.

And speaking of hallowed places. We did have a few hours after lunch before we had to drive my daughter Angela to Dulles Airport so we decided to take a qiuck trip into the city and see maybe one or two monumnets. We decided on the Lincoln Memorial and were fortunate to find a parking place on the street across a park just to the north of the memorial. Deciding to walk through the park for the shade - it was 95 degrees that day - we emerged on the other side before heading to the large white building a short distance away. As I turned to my right I was stunned to find ourselves at the entrance to the  Viet Nam Memorial - " The Wall "

I had imagined it to be much larger and more overwhelming but as we strolled past the sections of the black granite wall I could not help but catch myself trying to hold back the emotions. So many names! I knew a few of them from high school days. One young man, Donny Parker, I remember well. We graduated from high school in June and by December he had been killed when his chopper was shot down. Sad!

As we emerged on the other side we arrived at the bronze sculpture of the 3 soldiers in the pose that made me recall the many news photos of that era. Determination. Grief. Confusion. Sadness. Brothership. All of these emotions I could see in the frozen faces of these figures.

We did go on to the Lincoln Memorial which is impressive in itself but I kept looking back over my shoulder every now and then. That war was the defining event of my generation and will never forget how those events shaped our current world. Having served in the Marine Corps Reserve during that time I was lucky enough to have avoided the direct conflict but I was exposed to the war mentality of that time. Today I am just a little more cynical, yet hopeful that we learned something as a nation.