SOMETHING to think about.

Most of the surviving Parents are now deceased.

There are 58,267 names now listed on that polished black wall, including those added in 2010.

The names are arranged in the order in which they were taken from us by date and within each date the names are alphabetized. It is hard to believe it is 36 years since the last casualties.

Beginning at the apex on panel 1E and going out to the end of the East wall, appearing to recede into the earth (numbered 70E – May 25, 1968), then resuming at the end of the West wall, as the wall emerges from the earth (numbered 70W – continuing May 25, 1968) and ending with a date in 1975. Thus the war’s beginning and end meet. The war is complete, coming full circle, yet broken by the earth that bounds the angle’s open side and contained within the earth itself.

The first known casualty was Richard B. Fitzgibbon, of North Weymouth, Mass. Listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having been killed on June 8, 1956. His name is listed on the Wall with that of his son, Marine Corps Lance Cpl. Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, who was killed on Sept. 7, 1965.

There are three sets of fathers and sons on the Wall.

39,996 on the Wall were just 22 or younger.

8,283 were just 19 years old.

The largest age group, 33,103 were 18 years old.

12 soldiers on the Wall were 17 years old.

5 soldiers on the Wall were 16 years old.

One soldier, PFC Dan Bullock was 15 years old.

997 soldiers were killed on their first day in Vietnam .

1,448 soldiers were killed on their last day in Vietnam .

31 sets of brothers are on the Wall.

Thirty one sets of parents lost two of their sons.

54 soldiers on attended Thomas Edison High School in Philadelphia . I wonder why so many from one school.

8 Women are on the Wall. Nursing the wounded.

244 soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor during the Vietnam War; 153 of them are on the Wall.

Beallsville, Ohio with a population of 475 lost 6 of her sons.

West Virginia had the highest casualty rate per capita in the nation. There are 711 West Virginians on the Wall.

The Marines of Morenci – They led some of the scrappiest high school football and basketball teams that the little Arizona copper town of Morenci (pop. 5,058) had ever known and cheered. They enjoyed roaring beer busts. In quieter moments, they rode horses along the Coronado Trail, stalked deer in the Apache National Forest . And in the patriotic camaraderie typical of Morenci’s mining families, the nine graduates of Morenci High enlisted as a group in the Marine Corps. Their service began on Independence Day, 1966. Only 3 returned home.

The Buddies of Midvale – LeRoy Tafoya, Jimmy Martinez, Tom Gonzales were all boyhood friends and lived on three consecutive streets in Midvale, Utah on Fifth, Sixth and Seventh avenues. They lived only a few yards apart. They played ball at the adjacent sandlot ball field. And they all went to Vietnam . In a span of 16 dark days in late 1967, all three would be killed. LeRoy was killed on Wednesday, Nov. 22, the fourth anniversary of John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Jimmy died less than 24 hours later on Thanksgiving Day. Tom was shot dead assaulting the enemy on Dec. 7, Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.

The most casualty deaths for a single day was on January 31, 1968 ~ 245 deaths.

The most casualty deaths for a single month was May 1968 – 2,415 casualties were incurred.

For most Americans who read this they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of us who survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created. We are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.

From the National League of Families for POW/MIA’s In Southeast Asia

The gray water tank has been a pain in the butt since day one.  It doesn’t drain on the same side as black water. You need to run a hose to drain it if you are in a sensitive area. And there was the size, the venting, and the drain being about 6″ under the sliding door. I finally got tired of having to lay down in the dirt every time I connected a hose so I ran the drain out to the door. The problem with that (although I put up with it a couple of years) was you would end up with a hose right where the step needed to be.

So, I re-plumbed it and now the drain is in front of my rear tire. All the plumbing is hidden except for the drain end to which a hose attaches.

Lots of fun and saw friends I hadn’t seen in years. Ross Perot was there getting an award. He does amazing things for the special ops community that never make the news. I got my 35 year pin along with the other founders. A couple of Silver Stars and Distinguished Flying Crosses were give out along with several Bronze Stars.

My friend, Jim Butler, gave the keynote address. He reminded all of us how and why the SOA was formed. It certainly has changed over the years and I am not totally sure I am good with that.

Jim, Larry and I (friends since B Company, 1st Special Forces in Okinawa, 1968) along with one of Jim’s daughters, Lindsay and some strap hangers closed the bar and at 2am. Presley and I found the bus and headed out for the first rest stop about an hour away. When we got up that morning there was just one truck there with us and the rest stop was totally under construction! They said they were working at the other end and decided to just let us snooze away. Thanks for that!

Took the 5 home and kept the speed right at 60. I cannot believe the cars travelling at 70 or 90 right on the bumper of the car in front. Even saw one of those tiny smart cars. The tiny wheels looked like they were revolving about a million times a minute.

Presley was tired! He is not a party animal. He slept the entire way home. I wish I could have.

We averaged 19 mpg on the way home. I think  that it is uphill from Bakersfield to here but we’ll get a chance to do better next month when we do . . . “The big loop.”

Presley and I left Wednesday heading for Las Vegas. It was for the 35th anniversary of the Special Operations Association. We traveled almost due east through Strawberry and over Sonora Pass and down into Mono Lake Country.

Thank goodness we have a large diesel tank. Diesel was $4.89 per gallon in Lee Vining – a true rip-off. I had decided to keep 60 mph (on the GPS) the whole trip to check for mileage. When we finally filled up at Tonopah, through the mountains we had averaged over 18 mpg which I didn’t think was too bad.

We stopped in the Inyo National Forest for an hour or so. I did some target practice and Presley chased squirrels who were very upset and told him so.

Dropping in down into Nevada I was looking for somewhere to camp. With BLM land on both sides of us (the TomTom shows BLM and National Forest) I decided to pull off into the desert at the next flat place. We went a couple of hundred feet from the road and stopped. I was tired. Presley had spent the entire day sitting up in the passenger seat or (mostly) looking out the window at the scenery. He had even gone for a swim in the Junction Creek while on Hwy 108 so he was beat also.

An elderly man is stopped by the police around 2 a.m. and is asked where he is going at this time of night.

The man replies, “I am on my way to a lecture about alcohol abuse and the effects it has on the human body, as well as smoking and staying out late.”

The officer then asks, “Really? Who is giving that lecture at this time of night?”

The man replies, “That would be my wife.”