Memorial Day

Dear Charlie, http://www.flyarmy.org/K12130.HTM

Next year will mark the 40th anniversary of your death in Vietnam. Forty years of life that you were denied because you, and I, believed the lies our political leaders told us about the "threat of communism". Remember? "If we don't stop the commies in Vietnam now, they'll invade the Philippines, then Hawaii, and before long we'll be fighting them on the beaches of California." Yeah, right. Bullshit.
I am writing this entry to declare that I have not forgotten you, Charlie. Whenever I hear a Huey, smell jet fuel, see a military cemetery or the Vietnam memorial and every Memorial Day, I think of you.
I've lost my hair and put on 40 pounds. You'll always be a 22-year old kid whose quiet confidence is hidden behind that goofy grin of yours.
I don't know where you are. I know you're not at the Vietnam Memorial. I visited there, read your name and made a rubbing of it. But it didn't feel like you were there. Don't get me wrong!The wall is a nice tribute to all those who didn't come home and I hope everyone who sees their reflection in the wall realizes that their name could be on a wall one day. But you weren't there. Maybe that's because you're in the minds of all of us who knew you. So, in a way, you did come home after all.