Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The factsThere are 58,183 names on The Wall. ThIs includes about 300 added since the dedication in 1982 as deaths were confirmed.The names are arranged in the chronological order in which their deaths occurred. That way, the people killed together in a battle are on the same panel. The first name is Dale R. Buis from El Reno, Okla. The last is Richard Vande Geer from Columbus, Ohio.The memorial is a 500-foot, chevron-shaped wall, composed of 140 panels of polished black granite set in the earth.

Nicholas Walters never served in the military, but he was indelibly shaped by the stories he heard from his father, Sanford Walters, a Towson resident who served in Vietnam in 1969 and 1970 as a U.S. Army lieutenant. "He's someone who has always been committed to the veterans," Nicholas said of his dad. "It doesn't matter how old I get, he's someone I'm always going to look up to and respect his opinion and experience. " It troubled Nicholas to hear about the treatment his father got when he returned home and re-entered civilian life during those tumultuous times in the early 1970s.

WASHINGTON -- The White House announced yesterday that President Clinton would deliver remarks at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Monday, despite the risk that the visit could revive the debate over his draft record, which dogged his campaign.Administration officials said the White House had received postcards from veterans sent as part of what the officials called an organized protest campaign. The veterans charged that Mr. Clinton would "engage in hypocrisy" if he visited the memorial.

Md. native's status on memorial to change Operators of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington say they are updating the monument to reflect the changed status of a Middletown native. The Pentagon identified the remains of Air Force Senior Master Sgt. James Caniford last year. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is changing a symbol beside his name from a cross to a diamond to show he is dead instead of missing. Caniford is among five veterans to get such an update this year. Caniford's father, James Caniford, told The Frederick News-Post that he and his wife plan to travel from their Fort Myers, Fla., home to Washington this Memorial Day, when a ceremony will be held at the wall.

WASHINGTON -- Mike McCoy, whose father was killed in action in Vietnam in September 1964, said he had never celebrated Father's Day until yesterday, when he joined over 300 other surviving sons and daughters of Vietnam veterans at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial."

Like a sturdy sentinel, the black granite slab stands beside the Baltimore County Court House, screened from passing traffic by trees and plants that form what Capt. Arthur N. Rogers III, a disabled Vietnam veteran, calls "an open-air room where people can reflect."The rectangular stone, or stele, is 6 feet tall. One side bears 141 names -- with another to be added -- of countians who died in the Vietnam War. The other side reads, "Vietnam Veterans Memorial, dedicated to the citizens of Baltimore County who served their country in Southeast Asia, 1957-1975."

The Outback Theatre at Howard Community College will attempt to build an emotional bridge tonight between the written and spoken word, providing a dramatic setting for an adaptation of the book "Shrapnel in the Heart" to the stage.The performance in the theater, a venue designed this year for avant-garde productions in a more intimate location than the college's Smith Theatre, will mark Student Fine Arts Night at HCC."Shrapnel in the Heart," written by Laura Palmer in 1986, is a compilation of poems and letters left at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and gathered by the National Park Service.

They scrub at sunrise, before thousands of tourists arrive.They scrub as a tribute, cleaning dirt away from the 58,000 chiseled names and polishing the black granite surface of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.They scrub because if war claimed their lives, these volunteers would want someone to care for their memory, too.For seven years, on the first Sunday of each month, the men and women of the 89th Maintenance Squadron have come to the wall in Washington from Andrews Air Force Base in Prince George's County to help protect one of the nation's most famous landmarks.

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. - It has been 33 years. He'd be 54 now, if you can believe it. Sharon Scott Williams can't. She manages a painful smile. For years, the blonde Baltimore native, 56, a self-described ex-hippie, couldn't say her brother's name without crying. He was only 22 when he died. She can do it now, but barely. As she tells his story in the kitchen of her new West Virginia home, her voice catches again and again. She has never known what to say about Paul Scott Jr. Not really.

April 30, 2000 Dear Pfc. David R. Augustus: xxYou probably never expected your name to end up on a postage stamp. But in a way, it makes sense. Thirty-one years after you died in Vietnam, letters are the closest we can get to you. I have to go out on a patrol for five days with four men. I'll be all right, so pray for me, and I'll be home safe and sound. In the letters you are real. More real than in the friendly voice of the daughter who never knew you. More real than in the anonymous sea of white headstones at Baltimore National Cemetery.

After nearly 15 years in limbo, the songs of an unlikely partnership - between a conservative Vietnam veteran and a liberal musician - are finally finding an audience. If you go Lea Jones and FNG perform at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial's 25th anniversary concert at noon Saturday on the National Mall in Washington. Free. Go to VVA.org.

The Sun's recent coverage of Veterans Day events brought especially pointed responses from readers. Many people reacted to the stories and photographs within the context of the continuing war in Iraq and the continuing questions about the Bush administration's justifications for invasion. The Sun's coverage of an early Veterans Day event - the Nov. 5 commemoration aboard the oldest remaining Liberty ship, the SS John W. Brown - was praised by readers. But on the actual day of memorial, Nov. 11, some were unhappy with The Sun's efforts.

Honor U.S. war veterans Friday at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The annual Veterans Day event, taking place at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, features a wreath-laying ceremony at the tomb and memorial service in the amphitheater. President Bush is scheduled to lay the wreath. Throughout the ceremony, a military band will perform patriotic music. In addition to the Arlington National Cemetery event, there will be Veterans Day commemorations in Washington at the World War II Memorial at 8 a.m., at the Vietnam Women's Memorial at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m., at the African American Civil War Memorial at 11 a.m., at the U.S. Navy Memorial at 1 p.m. and at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at 1 p.m. Veterans Day is celebrated on Nov. 11, the date that World War I ended in 1918.

HEDGESVILLE, W.Va. - It has been 33 years. He'd be 54 now, if you can believe it. Sharon Scott Williams can't. She manages a painful smile. For years, the blonde Baltimore native, 56, a self-described ex-hippie, couldn't say her brother's name without crying. He was only 22 when he died. She can do it now, but barely. As she tells his story in the kitchen of her new West Virginia home, her voice catches again and again. She has never known what to say about Paul Scott Jr. Not really.

At the height of the war in Vietnam, the names of American soldiers held captive or missing in action were engraved on metal bracelets as a remembrance of their suffering. Nearly 5 million of the bracelets, which bear a soldier's name, rank and date of loss, were sold in the early 1970s. Three decades later, many Americans still wonder about the servicemen named on the "POW-MIA" bracelets tucked away in dresser drawers or collecting dust in jewelry boxes. "It's amazing after this many years how people will break up when talking about the bracelets," says Ann Mills Griffin, executive director of the National League of Families, who still wears one to honor her brother, Navy Cmdr.

Many package tours are geared to seniors or the 18-to-35 crowd. Now, a company known for catering to senior travelers plans to offer a series of packages for family travel, designed primarily for parents with school-age children. Tauck World Discovery has launched Tauck Bridges, a subsidiary that will start with a dozen itineraries next summer, six in the United States and six overseas. Destination themes include the American West; Hawaii; Alaska; Williamsburg, Va., and Washington; heli-hiking in the Canadian Rockies; Costa Rica; London and Paris; Italy; France; and Kenya and Tanzania.

A memorial service honoring former President Richard M. Nixon will be held at noon tomorrow at the Carroll County Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Willis Street.Judge Raymond Beck, State Sen. Larry Haines, Del. Richard Matthews and Westminster Mayor W. Benjamin Brown will speak.Dr. Shelton Smith, pastor of the Church of the Open Door, will deliver the memorial service message.

After nearly 15 years in limbo, the songs of an unlikely partnership - between a conservative Vietnam veteran and a liberal musician - are finally finding an audience. If you go Lea Jones and FNG perform at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial's 25th anniversary concert at noon Saturday on the National Mall in Washington. Free. Go to VVA.org.

SINCE ITS DEDICATION in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has brought millions of visitors to The Mall in Washington to look for names, remember loved ones and reach a peaceful understanding of a traumatic chapter in national life. Controversially simple and unassuming when unveiled, the two polished black granite walls, bearing 58,226 names of U.S. service men and women who gave their lives in the Vietnam War, is one of the most solemn and successful memorials ever designed. The monument, not to the war but to those called upon by their nation to fight it, has helped to heal the wounds and scars from that war. It was a triumph for Jan C. Scruggs, the Vietnam War veteran who crusaded to have it built.

Today in history: March 26 In 1827, composer Ludwig van Beethoven died in Vienna. In 1875, poet Robert Frost was born in San Francisco. In 1892, poet Walt Whitman died in Camden, N.J. In 1911, playwright Tennessee Williams was born in Columbus, Miss. In 1982, groundbreaking ceremonies took place in Washington, D.C., for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. One year ago: "American Beauty" won five Oscars, including best picture; its leading man, Kevin Spacey, won best actor, while Hilary Swank won the Oscar for best actress for "Boys Don't Cry."