LZ Peace Memorial

On Saturday, July 28, 2012, the 20th Engineer Brigade Vietnam visited the LZ Peace Memorial. They were in Rockford holding their reunion and the LZ Memorial was filled with hundreds of Vietnam veterans, many of them looking for a familiar name on the wall.

 

This'll be of particular interest to any of you veterans who were Combat Engineers or Seabees, like Joe Musso and Randy MacKloskey.

 

Heck you might even know some of these guys even though they’re 40 years older than the last time you saw them, they might be hard to recognize. Sometimes I don’t recognize myself when I look in the mirror.

 

There were several hundred Vietnam veterans and their families in town. They came from as far away as Texas, Oregon, New York, Minnesota, Okahoma, Florida, and even from Rockford, Illinois and all points in between.

 

I was there to help out and take pictures for the Vietnam Veterans Honor Society.

 

The VVHS took 20+ years for this memorial to be completed. It was dedicated in 2005 to Winnebago county Vietnam veterans who were killed in Vietnam serving their country.

 

And it was hot this July 28 as a Marine veteran told me, "Ken, it's pretty danged hot. Let's kick up some dust, get sprayed with Agent Orange and I'll feel right at home."

 

A police helicopter flew overhead and landed in one of the grassy fields at Midway Village Museum. It scared the crap out of a couple joggers. You talk about getting goosebumps and a shiver going up your spine. The whup-whup-whup is something else.

 

Dick Martin is a Navy veteran and was standing by this Army Jeep. It's all decked out with machine guns and other original equipment. He's 1963 graduate of Auburn and joined the Navy the same day as Mike Mayborne.  Dick was a submariner and now instead of driving a sub, he prefers to travel on dry land. He was nice enough to left me fire off a few bursts. Yeah, in my dreams.