The Wall (poem)

We were wrong, terribly wrong.

Robert McNamara

Visitors stand in silence—sharing
grief and pain. War casualties
etched in polished granite.

1959 2
1960 5
1961 16

Each year the numbers grow, row
after row. Young lives cut short.

1966 6,144
1967 11,614
1968 16,589

A girl stops, gently touches the
name of the father she never met.
Tears flow freely.

Leaders in Washington are not moved
by sentimentality. Vietnam casualties
are acceptable losses.

It was a long war
A tragic war
An unwinnable war

—Barry L. Reece