Early morning I headed to the wall. I wanted to stop and pay my respects to a couple of friends who gave all.
Walking up the hill to the Lincoln Memorial, it was hard not to get emotional. The first of 654 Vietnam Veterans visited the nation’s capital on May 1, 2017 had arrived. They had left Nebraska early that morning, shared four flights, a bunch of buses, and many memories.
I stopped to thank a group of men for their service. I mentioned I was from Bruning, south of York on Hwy 81. One of them asked if I knew Rich and John, my cousin and a neighbor from just up the road. As we chatted, I realized his father was the Egg Man who stopped at the farm a couple times a week to buy eggs for his route.
A few minutes later, I met a man walking by alone, after he visited the wall. I stopped to thank him for his service and he gave me a hug because he needed one.
After we chatted a bit, I gave him directions to the Korean memorial and he continued up the path. He turned around and gave me another hug, because we both needed one.
