"Honoring veterans every day" by Therese M. Dyer, Korean Veteran
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| Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno |
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| "The Vietnam Wall" replica |
I recently attended a lecture by Micheal Svaneik, historian at the Cypress Gardens, the topic was "bury me once, bury me twice and maybe once again." It was about early traditions in exhumations in San Francisco and abroad. One of many was John Paul Jones, preserved in whiskey and straw on his return to America.
In Arlington, there are graves for unknown soldiers for World Wars I and II, but none for Vietnam, until President Reagan's orders to bring them back. This was before DNA testing. Lt. Cornel Patricia Blassie's brother was missing in action and she insisted the remains of a body be tested. They were in fact the remains of her brother first lieutenant Micheal J. Blassie who was sent back to St. Louis,Mo as his final resting place.
I went to see the Vietnam Wall at Golden Gate Cemetery and discovered of 58,229 who died, 61 percent were younger than 21 and 75,000 were disabled, including my nephew James Banicki, shot out of a helicopter, left for dead, but survived. Eight nurses perished; 97 percent of the veterans were honorably discharged.
The next time you see a vet, don't say "thank you for your service," unless you really mean it."
Reference - Golden Gate National Cemetery, San Bruno, CA. Related - Support organization, Avenue of Flags Committee. California Cemetery location listing, US Department of Veterans Affairs/National Cemetery Administration.
Note photographs: Vietnam wall from an article by Nick Smith from Nick Smith News, 4/16/15, "The Wall That Heals”, a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, at Golden Gate National Cemetery in San Bruno, April 9 through April 12, 2015." Golden Gate National Cemetery by Pargon, from Ed Batista, Executive Coaching, Change Management, "Looking out over the graves of 139,000 veterans was sobering, and it put my "bad day" in perspective pretty damn fast."
Posted by Kathy Meeh
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