Skip to main content

A place of rest, and some conversation

St. Mark's Episcopal church is located on the square in Wadsworth and is right next to where the west end of the wall was. They had offered a place for prayer in their sanctuary and provided a place to rest, free coffee and water. I had gone up there to get some water for myself and my wife and got into conversation with two people. One was a Vietnam vet and the other was from the church, a native of Singapore. The young lady from Singapore had shared with us that even though many Americans didn't know why our country was in Vietnam, the people of her country did, and were grateful. She shared with us that the Asian countries were set to fall like dominoes to communism had American forces not been in Vietnam.

I had mentioned to the vet that I couldn't understand why soldiers returning home after serving their tour of duty were treated the way they were by their fellow citizens. These young men, for the most part, were drafted into the service and had no choice in where they served. According to the fact sheets I posted below, at least 25,000 of the casulties were 20 years old or younger. As I said previously, they couldn't legally drink anything stronger than 3.2 beer, they weren't old enough to vote, but they were old enough to die for our country. They died for the freedom those folks who spit on them take for granted.

Comments

Anonymous said…
We were there for the closing ceremonies and seen a family locate the name of the loved one on the wall. Very emotional. The museum was very interesting, enjoyed it very much. Brougt back memories of the trip to DC I took w/ my daughter's 8th grade class. What I didn't know, until yesterday, that there was a 15 year old over there and many 16 & 17 year olds. My heart went out to their mothers.
God Bless all our soldiers (from past & present)
B.
June 02, 2008 10:39 AM
Liquid said…
Every generation of men in my family have served our country.
Both in war and as a lifetime career. My son is next and cannot wait to become a soldier.

My men make me proud.
My country allows this pride.

Awesome posts, Cliff.........simply, awesome.
June 02, 2008 11:15 AM
Stylin said…
I had chills as I read this.
I am so honored by our men and women in the Armed Forces
On my trip,I carried my stepsons carry on suitcase.IT was a camoflage bag with army stickers all over and one said POW,MIA.If you cant bring them back ,ship us there.I had people staring at me all thro the trip and back.
June 02, 2008 11:37 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Post 800: Time to chat

Hi Guys, It's hard to believe that this is post number 800 for this blog. I started this blog out of my desire to communicate. Since radio and television is becoming more and more automated and less and less personal, I'm glad I made the decision to go in this direction as it has given me many blessings. When I first decided to write my musings, a friend from the radio and television boards who goes by the name of newsnomore, told me not to be discouraged if I didn't get any readers. The fact that I did in the early going made me surprised and grateful that anyone was enjoying what I wrote. I've had people tell me that maybe it wasn't meant for me to ever be in radio, that maybe my calling was blogging. Nowadays I think blogging makes for better two way conversation than terrestrial radio, especially the way I do it, non confrontational. The closest I come from any confrontation is the innocent digs that Pat and I shoot at each other. On an average day I get betwee...
12 comments
Read more

Lawson's Chip Dip

On a couple of occasions I have written posts dedicated to Lawson's, a convenience store chain that was located in Ohio for close to 50 years. In the late 1980's the chain was bought out by Dairy Mart, of Engfield Ct. Dairy Mart was then purchased by Alimentation Couche-Tard, and most stored were rebranded Circle K. Something that has survived the years since Lawson's has left the landscape is Lawson's Chip Dip. I get many hits on this blog from people out of Ohio, I'm thinking former Buckeyes, looking for availability of this chip dip. I had gotten an email from a former resident of Cleveland looking for it. I emailed Circle K about this sometime ago asking if it was possible to send the dip out to those out of state, they said because of quality issues that it was not possible. My only suggestion would be to get in touch with Circle K in your home area and ask them to start stocking this very popular item that seems to make every get-together complete. Now we wil...
28 comments
Read more

Big Chuck! a review

Update 01/12/09 : Click here to read a related article on Ohio Media Watch, along with a review of the book. Cliff Note: It's the second article in the OMW post. I spent a good portion of my Friday nights while I was going through my preteen and teenage years watching a television show called "The Hoolihan and Big Chuck Show." In high school, I was on the wrestling and football teams. One of my teammates was a quiet young man named Mike Schodowski. His father is Charles Schodowski, also known as Big Chuck. The book I'm about to review chronicles his 47 years as a part of Cleveland television history. The book tells how Chuck come from a family living in the Slavic Village neighborhood in Cleveland, how he went from working in a foundry on Cleveland's east side, to going into Cleveland television, first at KYW, channel 3 to WJW, channel 8, and how he became a Cleveland icon. Chuck started out as a camera man and went into directing. He was a part of the phenomenon...
16 comments
Read more