From:Reynolds Veterans Association
Subject: Washing of the Dead
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2011 07:36:46 -0400



In the early morning, just as the sun breaks over the Capitol dome, a small group of volunteers gathers at the black granite Vietnam Veterans Memorial, that heart-breaking slash in the earth by the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall. They quietly hook up hoses, attach nozzles and spray down the wall, removing a week‘s worth of dust, dirt and debris. Then they fill up buckets with a mild detergent, switch to soft brushes and, starting on either end of the wall, begin to scrub. Countless fingerprints, smears and tears that have accumulated since the last wash, a week ago. So many hands have touched the Wall over the past 29 years. Most of these men and women have touched it, too, and it touches them even as they work to keep it clean.

The washing of the dead, with its religious resonances, arose out of frustration. In 1998, dissatisfied with the job that the National Park Service was doing and upset that bird droppings had filled in some of the engraved names, Jan Scruggs of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund took action. He handed 37 toothbrushes to visiting vets from Wisconsin, who scrubbed the filth away. Members of the Silver Spring chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America and the Air Force Sergeants Association at Andrews Air Force Base stepped in and began monthly cleanings. A little more than a decade ago, the vets and the Park Service began working more closely together, and the organized weekly cleanings began. They expanded to the nearby Three Servicemen statue, the Vietnam Women‘s Memorial and, on alternate weekend days, the Korean War Veterans Memorial. Each year after the cherry blossoms are past, until the first snowfall, the volunteers turn up Saturdays and Sundays at 6:30 a.m., long before tourists arrive. The work takes less than hour.

Many military veterans are among the regular volunteers, but there are also church groups, Boy Scouts, college sorority sisters, union members and a few people who visit the nation‘s capital specifically for this duty. More than 58,000 names are on the Wall. On Father‘s Day last year, sons and daughters of some of those names were among the washers. If you‘d like to volunteer to help wash the Wall, contact the National Park Service at (202) 426-6841. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund(VVMF), which was the power behind the construction of the memorial in 1982, has recently raised the money to improve the lighting, maintain the landscaping, restore the nearby Three Servicemen statue and investigate the hairline cracks in the Wall. To learn more about the VVMF and how you can assist refer to http://www.vvmf.org. [Source: Washington Post Patricia Sullivan article 29 May 2011 ++]

My wife and I visited the wall several years ago. It was one of the most moving experiences of my life. The little flags, letters, personal possessions, packs of cigarettes, etc that loved ones and old buddies had left for the departed as well as those who were touching the wall and silently praying and softly crying was incredibly moving. The sense of sacrifice and loss is overwhelming.

Semper Fi, my Brothers.

When you are in "War," you usually don't give one seconds thought to politics or even your country. Not really. You fight, and sometimes die or get wounded, for the guys on your left and right. Your brothers. The rest is all bullshit.