In Washington, D.C., near the Lincoln Memorial heading towards the Capitol, is one of the most visited memorials in the United States. When the design for a memorial to the Americans who lost their lives in Vietnam was accepted, it was quite controversial at first. It doesn't stick up above the ground. Rather the walkway descends to it. But on the polished black granite set into the earth are the nearly 60,000 names of Americans killed or missing in that terrible war.
Visitors tend to be rather quiet.
It is a strange and sobering feeling to see all those names, for you know that each name stands for a real person, and a real life lost. People stand quietly, or hug one another. They weep, or place a few flowers or a picture on the ground. But most of all they look for names, or for a very special name. And finding that special name, they reach up and touch it, as though somehow that brings them in contact with the loved one it represents.