A Trip to E-town’s Vietnam Veteran Memorial

Jim Smith, Mac Neel, and Ken Christopher visited Elizabethtown’s wonderful Vietnam Veteran Memorial on Monday, December 28, 2020. The crown jewel of the memorial is an 80% reproduction of the Vietnam Veteran Monument in Washington, D.C.

All of the names are on the Wall including Henderson’s George B. Givens, Jr., who was recently added. George was seriously wounded in Vietnam and was confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life. Because he ultimately succumbed to his wounds, his name was added to the Wall even though he died in the United States many years later.

The E-town Wall is impressive, indeed, at 365 feet long. Although the day was cold and windy, quite a few other people had ventured to the Wall to pay their respects and perhaps honor a loved one whose name is on the wall.

Other statues and markers abound at the site including statues honoring each branch of the US Military and a POW marker. It is only by looking at the 57 thousand plus names on the Wall that one can truly sense the magnitude of loss our country suffered as a result of the Vietnam War.