The Moving Wall

Vietnam's toll

I was born during the Vietnam conflict years — in fact, my birthday is next week. My father served over there, stationed in Thailand, though, and wasn’t home when I was born; he went on to serve 20 years in the Air Force.

Perhaps it’s no surprise then that I have a soft spot for the men and women who were sent into this long, unnecessary, battle/conflict/war and forever changed because of it. My heart goes out to all those who were lost in it and the loved ones left behind to mourn them.

A few days ago, I visited the Moving Wall, a half-sized replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. It was set up in the small town where my son lives, and my father wanted to go see it, so we made a day of it, seeing the wall and my son.

My father has seen the real memorial in D.C., as have my kids and I on the two D.C. post-graduation trips I went on with them — my son in 2012 and my daughter in 2017. The smaller model hits almost as hard as the D.C. memorial does.

With its list of more than 58,000 names, it’s a sobering reminder of a sad chapter in our history. Add to that the fact that the average age of all those who were lost was a mere 23 years, it makes a person sadder yet.

Knowing he wouldn’t escape the draft, my father chose to enlist and get trained in a skill that would keep him far from the battlefields most likely. He was right; it did. He freely admits that he wouldn’t have survived the jungles and the fighting, and I believe him because he’s not someone who could pick up a gun and use it against someone else. I think, though, that seeing the Moving Wall (as we’ve now done on two occasions when it’s been in our area of the world) sits differently on him than it does on me because he knows his name could have been one of those 58,000.

We found the names of two young men that graduated in the years before and after my mother, the names of two young men who were from the town where my boyfriend grew up, and the name of the brother of a friend of ours. We found his name on the real memorial wall in D.C. in 2017.

David A. Meirose, from Bloomfield, NE. A mere 21-years-old when he died in 1970. Just a baby.

My dad’s tour ended about six months after I was born. He opted to stay in the Air Force, though, reenlisting a few times, and spent 20 years serving. After his retirement, he spent another 30 years serving as a Veteran’s Service Officer where he helped countless veterans get the benefits entitled to them.

As an American Legion Rider, I spend a lot of time around men who served and fought in Vietnam. They are special to me.

“Ticker Tape,” my novel about a Vietnam veteran named Marvin who returns to Vietnam and changes his life, is somewhat of an homage to those men. It is purely fictional, but I did enough research to incorporate just enough “real” stuff to make Marvin’s journey feel real. The veterans who have read it say that I did well.

People ask me which is my favorite book out of the seven I’ve written so far. I don’t have an answer for that, but I do have a favorite character, and that is Marvin.

If you’re not aware, I do have a YouTube channel where I’ve shared opening chapters of all my novels as well as a few other videos. I need to add more of “Ticker Tape,” but the first four chapters are available there if you’d care to take a listen, and here is an introductory video I made about it a while back: Ticker Tape introduction

If you’ve never been to the Vietnam Memorial in D.C., I highly recommend getting there one day, but I also recommend taking the time to visit the Moving Wall if it’s ever in your part of the country.

As I mentioned above, my birthday is next week. The only thing I want for my birthday is for people to buy and read my books and/or become subscribers of this or my other Substack post which is about increasing your word knowledge. Here is a link to the most recent post there, if you’d care to take a look: Cognate Cognizance -- prairie

If you’d care to look at “Ticker Tape” a bit more, here is a link to the Amazon page for it: Ticker Tape novel

Until next time. If you’re a paying subscriber, read on for more of my next novel, “Distant Dedication.” If you’d care to upgrade for a month or so, here’s a button to help you subscribe.

Tammy Marshall