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A Visit To The Wall
March 8, 2011
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 Some
years ago, they were having a ceremony at The Wall.
I asked my brother if he'd ever been to The Wall,
and he said no. Knowing that, during that time in
his life, he did not like to go out alone, I asked
if he would visit The Wall with me, and was
surprised when he said yes.
So, we went down,
parked the car quite a ways back from The Wall, and
walked along with other people headed for the
ceremony.
There was quite a crowd down by The
Wall when we arrived, and my brother stopped beside
the statue of The Three Soldiers. Some Big Wheel was
giving a talk, and we stood there listening for a
time, slightly apart from the crowd.
A TV
cameraman, scanning the faces looking toward The
Wall, paused for a moment with his video cam pointed
at us. I suppose he was attracted by the obvious
family resemblance – two brothers, solemnly looking
down at The Wall.
After a bit, he continued
his scanning.
A little later, my brother
said, I'm ready to go, and I replied, OK, you don't
want to get any closer? He answered, “Not now; The
Wall will be here for a time.” So we left, each with
his own thoughts.Author's Note: My brother and I served in Vietnam together; he arrived a month or so before I did. He was at Pleiku; I was at Trang Sup, in Tay Ninh Province.
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 By
Thurman P. Woodfork
Copyright 2003
About
Author...
Thurman P. Woodfork (Woody) spent his
Air Force career as a radar repairman in places as disparate as
Biloxi, Mississippi; Cut Bank, Montana; Tin City, Alaska; Rosas,
Spain and Tay Ninh, Vietnam. In Vietnam, he was assigned to
Detachment 7 of the 619th Tactical Control Squadron, a Forward Air
Command Post located on Trai Trang Sup. Trang Sup was an Army
Special Forces camp situated about fifty miles northwest of Saigon
in Tay Ninh province, close to the Cambodian border.
After Vietnam, Woody remained in the Air Force for nine more years.
Visit
Thurman P. Woodfork's site for more information |
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