Vietnam Memorial

The Viet Nam War Memorial.

It is a great tear in the green earth, a reminder of all we have lost.

A list of names engraved on black polished granite.

A tribute and a tweak to our conscience.

A compromise to the veterans of the conflict who felt that the

monument was too stark, to impersonal.

The statue was added despite the objections by the artist who created the plan for the

monument. I say it was a good thing to do.

Cecil C. McKinney, one of the thousands and thousands killed in a conflict far away.

I have no idea if he is a relation or not, or if he was a good man,

or if he even understood why he was there.

There are 18 McKinney's listed on this wall.

You can just barely make out my reflection as I took this photo.

Ronald G. McKinney also died in Viet Nam.

There were numerous families here searching out the names of fathers, sons, uncles, brothers.

This booth was just off site where you could buy trinkets to take home from the wall.

I obtained a POW/MIA bracelet listing Staff Sergeant Charles Vernon Newton, of Texas.

He was lost on 17 April, 1969, and was believed to have been taken prisoner by the Viet Cong.

He has never been accounted for.

In tribute to my father, CWO2 Jerry Dale McKinney, U. S. Army Retired.

October 10, 1937 - October 3, 2001

Served In Viet Nam June 1971-May 1972 (Huey Pilot)

At my OCS Graduation Ball, June 18, 1988.

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