Freedom isn't Free

The central Oregon community worked together and organized a "Tribute to Heroes". Part of that tribute was sponsoring the display of the replica of the "Vietnam Memorial Wall" which is 80% of the actual size of the memorial in Washington DC. The tribute also had areas honoring the veterans of all the other wars American's have fought in including those who have lost their lives in the current war on terror. I went to see the wall today and found the name of mom's cousin Marvin H Brown who we called "Uncle Willie". Everytime he came home on leave he would visit us for a few days and bring us presents (I still have some of the jewelry). He was a medic and died in Vietnam on his third tour while trying to help another soldier. I got more emotional than I thought I would when it dawned on me that the dates at the bottom of each panel of names were the dates when they died. Sometimes the date range on a panel was only one or 2 days. Uncle Willie's name is on panel 32W and his name is on line 90. The dates on his panel were Feb 9 - Feb 23 1969. I was a sophomore in high school. There are over 58,000 names on the wall - it is very sobering and at the same time very impressive and overwhelming. We owe so much to those who are willing to fight and die for our freedoms. We have much to be thankful for.