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Georgia Memorial

By VVAW Virg McFadden

Under a partly sunny sky the vans rounded the last curve and passed under a banner which read LZ FRIENDLY. A cheery went up as we pulled into the drive marked by a totem-style sign topped with the words THE WORLD. A tall man doffed his cap with a box and said in an affected southern drawl, "Welcome to Georgia."

Thirteen VVAW members from Wisconsin and Illinois tumbled from the vans wanting to do everything at once; unfold their bodies with a good stretch, meet old friends and new, and set up camp. What's all the excitement?

Well—it was the first annual VVAW and Northeast Georgia Vietnam Veterans Coalition campout held in Hull, GA during the Easter weekend. The high point of which was the dedication of the Vietnam Memorial pictured here.

After the camp was set up we got into what was uppermost in our minds, talking to other veterans and their families. About 60 folks camped for the entire Easter weekend and each evening the number swelled as local veterans gathered with us around the campfire.

John Snyder, 26 month Vietnam veteran, and his wife, also a veteran, hosted the event on their farm. John and Elton Manzione, VVAW coordinator for the region, got together some months ago to organize the event. And, an event it was! Food for every tasted from hot dogs to roast goat; bands during the day and at night; fun for the kids (of all ages) including a magician; and most importantly, veterans, veterans, veterans.

The non-partisan, non-political event drew many veterans who were just beginning to deal with their Vietnam experience, as well as those who have been coming together at events such as this for years. They came together with a spirit and camaraderie that was refreshing, joyful and hopeful. The exclamation, "Wow, really! carried across the campsite more than once. "Where were ya"? "Did ya' ever meet so-and-so?"

An eerie displacement occurred as I walked past a group of men good-naturedly talking about the shopping habits of their wives. Their burst of laughter, and mine, was accompanied by the blare of the sound track to Apocalypse Now and someone yelling "outgoing" as the nearby mortar-fired wads of paper and puffs of smoke into the air. Some apogee occurred there. A paradox of life, where the parallel existences of the same man met for a brief moment on a sunny GA field 10 years after.

A request that 3 Huey helicopters pass over in formation was officially denied; but a lone Huey appeared, lumbered slowly overhead, its blades thumping out a rhythmic beat, and disappeared behind a forest flowering with dogwood.

The national and local TV and newspaper reporters swarmed over the campsite all weekend filming and interviewing the vets and their families. Some set up tents and joined the vets around the evening campfires. With the cameras put away, the full moon, and low of the fire, warm calm settled over the camp as small groups talked in muted tones or wandered from the beer/soft drink coolers to tents and back again.

There was laughter and chuckles when we heard it has snowed 'up-North'. For a short time at least, we were enjoying sunny days and mild nights and had the sunburn to prove it.

It's impossible to separate people from their politics and this gathering was no different. So, along with "How does your garden grown" and "Tall Tales" was the ever-present talk of economy, jobs, the military build-up, the VA, intervention into other countries' internal affairs, and the wars in Central America. There was much bantering about; as when an ex-Army nursed expressed, with a tinge of hostility, her concern for "how the Vietnamese are handling their orphan problem." To which Chicago Bob said, "That's not a complete thought." "What do you mean?", she said. "Well, if it wasn't for us and the French they would have an orphan problem," he said, "and anyway, why should they be accountable to us since we've maintained an embargo against them and never paid reparations as agreed by treaty." This was followed by nodding heads and a new topic.

Early Easter morning I stumbled from my tent and by an act of will made it across the campsite to a huge coffee pot. I collapsed into the nearest chair hugging the warm brew and gazed across the field I had just crossed. Inside the firebreak tents ringed the field, each with its own colorful balloon floating overhead. This was the morning we had awaited. Each of us with our private thoughts. God I thought, wouldn't it be grand if this was the last monument to the last combatants of the very last war mankind makes on himself. My eyes came to rest on the granite monument nestled in the far corner of the field. The sun, just peeking over the trees, struck the face of the granite, turning its Pink/Gray color to a brilliant White glow. Folks began to fill the field with the familiar look of "greens" and boonie hats.

The dedication started with speeches; some short and direct, one long and tedious. A few hundred people waited respectfully, each with a flower to place at the foot of the monument.

The crunch of gravel underfoot was the only sound as the long march approached its destination. Veterans soon stood in ranks before the monument which reads VIETNAM 1945-1975 LEST WE FORGET. An M-16 was placed, a pair of jungle boots below, a helmet aloft. The salute was accompanied by the slow notes of Taps. After the flowers were laid the crowd and the veterans came together laughing and crying at the same time.

There was a feeling of completeness, and renewed vitality in our commitment to fight on for the human and legal rights of the veterans of Vietnam and other wars.

Across our huddled group I looked up at Elton, and with tears streaming down my face, laughed and said, "I don't look like it now, but I've had a good time."

—Virg McFadden
Chicago VVAW

(This article is reprinted without editing from the Chicago VVAW Chapter newsletter.)