I have a few friends whose names are on that wall. One of them was one of my best friends. When he was killed in Vietnam, I was in college. I felt guilty. Anyway, to make a long story short, my experience at the wall was moving for me, but at the same time somehow remote.
If you travel to Europe, visit some of the WWII American cemetaries in France and Belgium. I cannot remember the name of the small Belgian town that was nearby, but the American cemetary was absolutely beautiful - but there were 30,000 American soldiers buried there. As I walked among the stones, I noticed that the majority of them ranged from 19 to 23. I sat on a bench in the cemetary and reflected on that rather poignant point. Here were America's youth - they had made the ultimate sacrifice - and gave up all they were ever going to be and experience. They did it for their loved ones, their fellow soldiers, but ultimately they did it for us. That is why as long as I served in the Army I have had a deep love and respect for the American soldier. I sat there and cried - 30,000 young American dead lay in that field. Almost unfathomable.
''What have Americans to be thankful for? More than any other people on
the earth, we enjoy complete religious freedom, political freedom,
social freedom. Our liberties are sacredly safeguarded by the
Constitution of the United States , 'the most wonderful work ever struck
off at a given time by the brain and purpose of man.' Yes, we Americans
of today have been bequeathed a noble heritage. Let us pray that we may
hand it down unsullied to our children and theirs.''
B.C. Forbes, 1953