With the Memorial Day weekend on the way, lawmakers in Washington, D.C. found something they can agree on. “Honoring America’s Vietnam veterans,” they proclaim, “is not a partisan issue.” That’s why a team of them from both sides of the aisle put in some wet and sweaty community service work.
Ahead of Memorial Day
Not only is this particular homage a bipartisan effort, it’s becoming a yearly Memorial Day tradition. Representative Mike Waltz is a proud “combat-decorated Green Beret.” The Republican has led the effort in recent years to hold a volunteer hand-washing of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
His Democrat colleague, Seth Moulton, was scrubbing along beside him this year. “It’s good for us as members of Congress to come down here to see these 58,000 names,” Waltz relates.
“This is good for Americans to see us coming together, setting our differences aside and appreciating that freedom isn’t free.” It’s important for everyone to fully understand the story behind all those names on the wall.
In honor of Memorial Day, a bipartisan group of lawmakers is hand-washing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC.
CNN's @JakeTapper speaks to lawmakers — and military veterans — Mike Waltz and Seth Moulton. https://t.co/N0KwJMjxNf pic.twitter.com/pxKA1Smk7o
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 25, 2023
Each and every one of the inscriptions is special to family of those named. They make pilgrimages from all over to find the names of their heroes. They make rubbings from the memorial and take photos to share with everyone back home.
“We learn so much from them about what they went through when veterans weren’t appreciated” because “the country had, for the first time in history, turned against them.” The way they were treated was, indeed, horrid.
That war was highly unpopular and dragged on for far too long but it wasn’t the fault of the soldiers. That didn’t stop them from taking the blame for keeping the planet safe. If any group of war veterans deserves a special memorial, it’s these.
Incredibly powerful opportunity
Moulton also served as a Marine. He described participating in the policing of the memorial to spruce it up for a big wave of visitors “incredibly powerful.”
To him, it’s also an “opportunity to appreciate what they gave to America, what they gave to all of us, to a country that at the time didn’t even appreciate their sacrifices.”
The annual clean up effort serves as “a reminder of all the young men and women who are still out there, standing on the ramparts of freedom around the globe and are counting on us to come together and do the right thing in Washington.”
Friendly reminder—
While every veteran appreciates you honoring our service with your thanks, #MemorialDay is meant to honor the fallen.
Have a happy #MemorialDay2023 and remember to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Semper Fi. pic.twitter.com/ZP1zCYuOop
— JΛKΣ (@USMCLiberal) May 26, 2023
He also pointed out congressional efforts “to construct a 9/11 war memorial, which has recently been sited between the Vietnam Veterans and Lincoln Memorials.”
The 911 monument, he adds, would be “a prominent place on the Mall – on the National Mall – for all those we’ve lost so recently.”
No matter which memorial you visit, the important thing is taking at least a few moments to ponder that the burgers you’re grilling wouldn’t be there if it weren’t for all those who fought and died for your right to grill them.
