A couple of Europeans, some 2,000 years apart, got to the essence of it. Greek historian Herodotus (484 B.C.-409 B.C.) said, “In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons.” And French pilot and author Antoine de Saint-Exupery (1900-1944) said, “War is not an adventure. It is a disease. It is like typhus.” A traveling tribute that has visited more than 200 cities is etched with one toll of that deadly disease—the names of more than 58,250 American sons and daughters who died or are MIA in Vietnam. For millions of people, the 380-foot, 8-foot-high, three-quarter-scale, faux-granite replica of the Washington, D.C. memorial has allowed unforgettable moments of, literally, hands-on reflection and healing. For, as our own General William Tecumseh Sherman said, war is hell.
Wed., May 11, 2011
