Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington DC

What a heart-breaking memorial dedicated to our fallen Vietnam war heroes. Seeing all the names on the wall makes you feel appreciative of the sacrifices our fellow Americans had to endure for our "freedom". My grandpa's best friend died in the Vietnam war from a North Vietnamese sniper when he was just 20 years old. When I was there, I etched his name on a piece of paper and handed it to my grandpa for safekeeping. There are nearby small park benches, if you don't want to get up close with the wall.

There’s a lot of history with this memorial. Too much drama related to the war and a very charged American population, thus the memorial that cuts deep into the earth and looks like a wound that has been healing for years. The reflective wall allows us to look past the names and realize that, in a different age, those names could have been ours. I wasn’t aware that 1/2 of those who died were only 18 years of age and the average age of those who passed away is just over 19. God bless our veterans and their families for the trial is equally tough to bear for those who died and those who survived.