WEBVTT 00:02.040 --> 00:02.460 mm . 00:09.840 --> 00:12.173 All this stuff tells us about ourselves . 00:12.800 --> 00:15.022 That's where you leave a lot of tears . 00:15.340 --> 00:17.740 I look at this collection as being a 00:17.750 --> 00:20.290 people's collection . This is a sacred 00:20.290 --> 00:22.970 trust . Dear Vietnam Soldiers . Thank 00:22.970 --> 00:25.260 you for all you did for our country and 00:25.270 --> 00:27.850 risking your life . 00:35.840 --> 00:39.830 Mhm . It was conceived as 00:39.830 --> 00:42.120 a gash in the ground , a wound in the 00:42.120 --> 00:44.310 earth . The designer envisioned a 00:44.310 --> 00:46.400 polished granite surface that would 00:46.400 --> 00:49.150 reflect life in death . They're 00:49.150 --> 00:51.210 engraved names would be a powerful 00:51.210 --> 00:53.560 memorial to those who died too young . 00:54.240 --> 00:56.407 The Vietnam veteran who pushed for its 00:56.407 --> 00:58.629 creation , wanted to find a way to heal 00:58.629 --> 01:01.000 embattled and embittered veterans and 01:01.000 --> 01:03.000 to help soothe the society still 01:03.000 --> 01:05.850 divided by a controversial conflict . 01:07.040 --> 01:09.350 But no one foresaw that from its 01:09.350 --> 01:12.360 opening in 1982 , people would come to 01:12.360 --> 01:14.640 the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Leave 01:14.640 --> 01:18.200 Mementos . This ditty biz 01:19.610 --> 01:23.460 in high school rings an old 01:23.460 --> 01:27.160 phone to Graham's lead , momma's break , 01:28.040 --> 01:31.840 large and small , personal and 01:31.840 --> 01:35.550 military , obvious and mysterious 01:36.240 --> 01:40.220 offering sat the wall . There's combat 01:40.220 --> 01:43.250 boots he used to wear 01:43.640 --> 01:46.820 when he 01:46.820 --> 01:50.260 wasn't over there . 01:52.040 --> 01:54.770 And there's 50,000 names 01:55.140 --> 01:56.960 carved in the wall . 01:58.340 --> 02:01.660 Month after month , Year after year , 02:02.040 --> 02:04.750 decade after decade . The offerings 02:04.750 --> 02:07.910 have been left . In 1986 . The National 02:07.910 --> 02:09.930 Park service organized them into a 02:09.930 --> 02:12.152 formal collection . Now located outside 02:12.152 --> 02:14.374 of the District of Columbia in suburban 02:14.374 --> 02:17.680 Maryland . It's impossible for any one 02:17.680 --> 02:19.847 person to know all there is about this 02:19.847 --> 02:21.958 collection or always tell people that 02:21.958 --> 02:24.440 they're at least 125,002 . Maybe 100 02:24.440 --> 02:27.960 and 50,000 objects in this collection . 02:28.840 --> 02:30.830 That's more than two times as many 02:30.830 --> 02:33.500 objects as names on the Wall by 02:33.500 --> 02:35.380 Memorial Day 2010 . There were 02:35.380 --> 02:39.300 58,267 . A few are 02:39.300 --> 02:40.967 added each year as additional 02:40.967 --> 02:44.070 fatalities are verified . Dory Felton 02:44.070 --> 02:47.010 has been the only curator all this has 02:47.010 --> 02:49.210 ever had . He's a wounded Vietnam 02:49.210 --> 02:51.940 veteran himself who recognized objects . 02:51.950 --> 02:54.280 No one else understood . I knew what 02:54.280 --> 02:56.502 they were . I said , you know those are 02:56.502 --> 02:58.558 military pajamas . That's a souvenir 02:58.558 --> 03:00.447 soared from Thailand , whatever , 03:00.447 --> 03:02.391 whatever . There's a great deal of 03:02.391 --> 03:04.447 whatever in the thousands of plastic 03:04.447 --> 03:06.447 boxes where most of the objects are 03:06.447 --> 03:08.502 stored , they range from elaborate , 03:08.502 --> 03:10.613 carefully prepared offerings to notes 03:10.613 --> 03:12.669 written on the spur of the moment on 03:12.669 --> 03:14.613 brown paper bags . I surmised that 03:14.613 --> 03:16.502 someone probably came to the wall 03:16.502 --> 03:18.669 overcome with emotions and they had to 03:18.669 --> 03:20.724 put this down in chapter and verse . 03:20.724 --> 03:23.860 This is great literature in this 03:23.860 --> 03:26.150 collection . This is first hand 03:26.150 --> 03:28.500 accounts , it is unaltered , it is 03:28.510 --> 03:31.330 unedited , it will punch you in the 03:31.330 --> 03:33.890 stomach . But this collection is also 03:33.890 --> 03:36.110 celebration of life . There are 03:36.110 --> 03:38.130 favorite foodstuffs and clothing , 03:38.140 --> 03:41.090 alcohol and cigarettes , birthday cards 03:41.100 --> 03:43.430 and easter baskets . Sometimes there 03:43.430 --> 03:46.040 are explanatory notes . More often 03:46.050 --> 03:48.990 there are not , there's an empty 03:48.990 --> 03:51.930 champagne bottle and two garbage but 03:51.930 --> 03:55.280 there's no message , no photographs . 03:55.740 --> 03:57.890 And I've often wondered if this was 03:57.900 --> 03:59.789 dreams deferred . There's so many 03:59.789 --> 04:01.567 stories that you could probably 04:01.567 --> 04:02.622 visualize really . 04:05.340 --> 04:08.050 We have in this collection enormous 04:10.240 --> 04:13.990 tri fold flags . This one is a captain 04:14.540 --> 04:16.873 special forces . The United States Army . 04:17.340 --> 04:20.080 There's no supporting donor information . 04:20.540 --> 04:23.120 Sure you don't . This is our famous 04:23.130 --> 04:26.960 hippy dippy hat as we call it . Uh huh . 04:27.530 --> 04:29.840 And this is reminiscent of some of the 04:29.840 --> 04:33.320 headgear from the 60s young 04:33.320 --> 04:35.431 professionals , graduate students and 04:35.431 --> 04:37.530 interns recording carefully catalog 04:37.530 --> 04:39.730 each object as it comes in . Park 04:39.730 --> 04:41.619 rangers collect everything except 04:41.619 --> 04:43.830 perishable items like flowers and many 04:43.830 --> 04:46.460 foodstuffs . The plan is to one day 04:46.460 --> 04:49.090 have all this information available on 04:49.090 --> 04:51.380 the internet . Dory advises the 04:51.380 --> 04:53.920 catalogers not to judge or interpret 04:53.930 --> 04:56.860 the objects integrity is very important 04:56.860 --> 04:59.027 that so many things I tried to impress 04:59.027 --> 05:01.138 upon the interns because many of them 05:01.138 --> 05:03.220 are young And about 60% of today's 05:03.220 --> 05:05.140 population was the nine lives on 05:05.140 --> 05:07.140 Vietnam . They don't have a clue as 05:07.140 --> 05:10.180 regards to Vietnam . Dori himself tries 05:10.180 --> 05:12.402 not to over interpret , but he does say 05:12.402 --> 05:14.513 he often feels like he's an uninvited 05:14.513 --> 05:16.736 onlookers peeking over the shoulders of 05:16.736 --> 05:19.550 the people as they leave things . We 05:19.550 --> 05:21.630 know it's important to them . These 05:21.630 --> 05:25.350 objects in a in a way it's a sense of a 05:25.360 --> 05:27.660 vulnerability there you are displaying . 05:28.640 --> 05:30.751 So we're coming behind them and we're 05:30.751 --> 05:32.918 looking at these boxes . You know , we 05:32.918 --> 05:35.084 talked , we ask questions amongst us . 05:35.084 --> 05:37.196 I wonder what this is for what that's 05:37.196 --> 05:40.900 for . But but what voice in a locked 05:40.910 --> 05:43.590 cabinet , four sets of general stars 05:43.600 --> 05:45.656 left by former Chairman of the Joint 05:45.656 --> 05:47.740 Chiefs of Staff Peter Pace to honor 05:47.740 --> 05:49.900 four marines who served under him in 05:49.900 --> 05:53.610 1968 as a young man . He 05:53.620 --> 05:55.510 acted as a platoon leader in the 05:55.510 --> 05:59.450 Vietnam War . Each of these white index 05:59.450 --> 06:02.660 cards that are inscribed with the name 06:03.440 --> 06:07.370 represent and honor those individuals 06:07.380 --> 06:09.380 who were killed under his command , 06:09.740 --> 06:13.670 this game wall and fan 06:13.680 --> 06:17.670 his name . The teardrops 06:17.670 --> 06:19.930 fall like boy 06:22.590 --> 06:26.180 silently . They leave a 06:26.190 --> 06:29.160 gift and go . 06:29.640 --> 06:31.990 Initially it seemed to be sort of a one 06:31.990 --> 06:35.500 time event that was tied to the 06:35.510 --> 06:37.870 emotion of this new monument in 06:37.870 --> 06:39.926 Washington and all of these military 06:39.926 --> 06:43.400 veterans and others who had all of this 06:43.400 --> 06:45.622 sort of psychological baggage that they 06:45.622 --> 06:48.530 were dealing with . Vietnam vet . Jan 06:48.530 --> 06:50.697 Scruggs led the struggle to create the 06:50.697 --> 06:53.160 memorial approved by Congress funded 06:53.160 --> 06:55.300 with private donations and built on 06:55.300 --> 06:57.880 public land all in the course of three 06:57.880 --> 06:59.880 years . He thought it was something 06:59.880 --> 07:02.220 that was needed for individual veterans 07:02.230 --> 07:05.140 and for the whole country , just as 07:05.140 --> 07:08.700 individual participants and family 07:08.710 --> 07:11.560 members need to deal with trauma . 07:13.640 --> 07:17.470 Brand in in Vietnam is the 07:17.470 --> 07:20.060 nation as a whole , As a collectivity , 07:20.640 --> 07:24.620 need a symbol of reconciliation of 07:24.630 --> 07:25.810 healing . 07:31.640 --> 07:35.430 As opposition to the Vietnam war 07:35.430 --> 07:37.510 rose in the country . The homecoming 07:37.510 --> 07:39.720 was tough for most returning vets , 07:40.030 --> 07:42.690 sometimes downright hostile even if 07:42.690 --> 07:45.660 they only came home for leave . I made 07:45.660 --> 07:48.820 the mistake of going to a place where 07:48.820 --> 07:52.260 people my age would hang out at that 07:52.270 --> 07:55.650 time in uniform . Mhm . 07:56.240 --> 08:00.210 And uh it was a bad experience because 08:00.210 --> 08:02.460 people really were angry at the 08:02.460 --> 08:05.170 military veterans of the war for being 08:05.170 --> 08:08.670 a part of the military Betty jo kiefer 08:08.680 --> 08:10.736 who was growing up at the end of the 08:10.736 --> 08:13.070 Vietnam years has three sons who have 08:13.070 --> 08:15.580 deployed . Their experience has been 08:15.580 --> 08:18.130 completely different . My boys are 08:18.130 --> 08:20.408 received very well when they come back , 08:20.408 --> 08:23.370 even people stop them , shake their 08:23.370 --> 08:26.450 hands , thank them for their service . 08:26.560 --> 08:28.990 It's just a totally different world for 08:28.990 --> 08:30.657 my sons when they come home , 08:30.657 --> 08:32.712 especially when they're in uniform . 08:33.140 --> 08:35.360 Some believe that recent appreciation 08:35.360 --> 08:37.320 for service is due in part to the 08:37.320 --> 08:39.209 existence of the Vietnam Veterans 08:39.209 --> 08:41.110 Memorial . That the wall has had 08:41.110 --> 08:43.332 genuine healing power for the country . 08:44.040 --> 08:46.400 It was not a memorial to glorify war . 08:46.410 --> 08:48.521 It's not a memorial of any kind other 08:48.521 --> 08:51.170 than honor . The soldiers Tony First 08:51.170 --> 08:53.430 solo attended the dedication ceremony 08:53.440 --> 08:57.240 in 1982 when I first saw it , I was a 08:57.240 --> 09:00.030 little struck by what was called the 09:00.030 --> 09:02.950 black gash in the in the in the ground . 09:02.960 --> 09:05.010 I have to admit that . But then I 09:05.010 --> 09:07.177 realized when you , when you walk down 09:07.177 --> 09:09.232 there , if you walk along the wall , 09:09.232 --> 09:12.660 you feel like you're part of it Tony 09:12.660 --> 09:15.120 wasn't with a combat unit in Vietnam . 09:15.130 --> 09:17.640 His group was responsible for reporting 09:17.640 --> 09:19.751 the names of all the dead and wounded 09:19.751 --> 09:21.918 back to the Department of the Army for 09:21.918 --> 09:24.084 several years . He's been volunteering 09:24.084 --> 09:27.230 on special days at the wall . Why ? It 09:27.230 --> 09:29.452 just struck me that , you know , my job 09:29.452 --> 09:31.397 wasn't done yet . I still had as a 09:31.397 --> 09:33.740 casually guy , Still had something to 09:33.750 --> 09:37.050 that I needed to , to do and that maybe 09:37.050 --> 09:39.260 I could bring some comfort to people 09:39.260 --> 09:41.900 and talk to them about the war and try 09:41.900 --> 09:44.380 to explain . It wasn't the way you see 09:44.380 --> 09:46.600 it . Like in the movies , there's no 09:46.600 --> 09:48.656 such thing as a Vietnam experience . 09:48.656 --> 09:51.110 There's no such thing as an Iraqi 09:51.110 --> 09:54.450 Afghan to stand experience dependent 09:54.450 --> 09:56.470 upon when you were in the country . 09:56.470 --> 09:58.600 What you were doing in country had a 09:58.600 --> 10:00.767 lot to do with your experience . There 10:00.767 --> 10:03.850 was Vietnam experiences offerings at 10:03.850 --> 10:06.280 the wall , Our contemporary history , 10:06.290 --> 10:08.770 all this stuff tells us about ourselves 10:08.780 --> 10:11.002 and that's what an archaeologist does . 10:11.002 --> 10:13.180 We find stuff to talk about other what 10:13.180 --> 10:15.350 we were like and I think all of these 10:15.350 --> 10:18.220 objects talk about us and what we 10:18.220 --> 10:21.110 believe in what we think about what 10:21.110 --> 10:23.277 hurts us , what makes us feel better , 10:23.277 --> 10:26.290 all those things . Little american 10:26.300 --> 10:30.240 flags with the win 10:32.140 --> 10:34.750 And there's 50,000 names 10:35.640 --> 10:39.040 carved in the wall . Yeah . 10:39.940 --> 10:43.810 Mhm . Mhm . The seat is 10:43.810 --> 10:46.130 for our brothers and sisters on the 10:46.130 --> 10:47.630 wall when they come home . 10:52.940 --> 10:53.940 Yeah . 11:02.340 --> 11:04.007 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial 11:04.007 --> 11:06.229 Collection contains objects that can be 11:06.229 --> 11:08.590 regarded as kind of a social history of 11:08.590 --> 11:11.670 America in recent decades . This is a 11:11.670 --> 11:14.360 history written by the everyday person 11:14.740 --> 11:16.962 for lack of a better term we're talking 11:16.962 --> 11:19.800 about From the ground up instead of in 11:19.800 --> 11:21.950 the past . From the top down . Yeah , 11:23.140 --> 11:26.810 by you . I would tell what it means to 11:26.820 --> 11:30.760 be a man bob haldeman Thompson is one 11:30.760 --> 11:32.927 of the notable authors of that rewrite 11:32.927 --> 11:35.130 of social history when he returned to 11:35.130 --> 11:37.410 Wisconsin from Vietnam . He became a 11:37.410 --> 11:39.354 biker , joined the Hell's Henchmen 11:39.354 --> 11:41.730 motorcycle club . He was a member for a 11:41.730 --> 11:43.730 handful of years but kept riding 11:43.730 --> 11:47.120 afterward . He forgot about Vietnam or 11:47.130 --> 11:49.460 tried to . Yeah 11:49.840 --> 11:53.120 it was a hard 11:53.120 --> 11:55.660 transition for everybody . We didn't 11:55.660 --> 11:58.110 come home to a parade , we didn't come 11:58.110 --> 12:02.070 home to anything . We come home 12:02.080 --> 12:04.860 pretty shameful . I think he'd been a 12:04.860 --> 12:07.420 member of a marine radio relay team in 12:07.420 --> 12:11.390 country in 1968 and 1969 . You learn 12:11.390 --> 12:14.690 so much , you grow up fast like let's 12:14.690 --> 12:17.720 say your body gets shot . Well you take 12:17.720 --> 12:20.990 the time to make sure he's got into a 12:20.990 --> 12:23.900 place where he can be taken care of but 12:23.900 --> 12:26.230 you don't have time to sit around and 12:26.230 --> 12:29.660 moan too much about what's fair , 12:29.660 --> 12:32.720 what's not fair . He got shot . Thank 12:32.720 --> 12:36.210 God I didn't um it was moving out the 12:36.210 --> 12:38.440 next day going somewhere else doing 12:38.440 --> 12:41.260 something When the Vietnam Veterans 12:41.260 --> 12:43.960 Memorial opened in 1982 . He didn't 12:43.960 --> 12:46.250 think much about it . It was just 12:46.250 --> 12:48.690 another thing from Washington D . C . 12:48.690 --> 12:51.960 Trying to make the vets feel better and 12:51.960 --> 12:54.100 stuff like that . I didn't read too 12:54.100 --> 12:56.760 much about it . What happened in 12:57.140 --> 13:00.680 1968 when I came back ? I forgot it . 13:01.340 --> 13:04.050 I wanted nothing to do with it . 13:05.880 --> 13:07.991 Then he decided to participate in the 13:07.991 --> 13:10.047 annual Rolling Thunder run . Rolling 13:10.047 --> 13:13.140 Thunder started small in 1987 and had 13:13.150 --> 13:16.530 grown to an estimated 350,000 bikes by 13:16.540 --> 13:19.210 2000 and eight motorcyclists from 13:19.210 --> 13:21.040 across the country converge on 13:21.040 --> 13:23.096 Washington D . C . On Memorial Day . 13:23.340 --> 13:25.220 The goal bring attention to the 13:25.220 --> 13:27.220 prisoners of war and the missing in 13:27.220 --> 13:29.331 action still unaccounted for from the 13:29.331 --> 13:32.010 Vietnam years and beyond . On his first 13:32.020 --> 13:34.660 run , Hog man finally saw the wall 13:38.340 --> 13:40.396 with a whole new experience for me . 13:41.240 --> 13:45.170 But I , I shed no tears but 13:45.170 --> 13:47.337 he noticed all the objects at the wall 13:47.430 --> 13:49.690 and on a later run Hog man started 13:49.700 --> 13:51.533 thinking about what the state of 13:51.533 --> 13:53.756 Wisconsin could leave . He was thinking 13:53.756 --> 13:56.820 something big , something that we could 13:56.820 --> 13:59.042 do , something that we could bring from 13:59.042 --> 14:01.153 Wisconsin . That meant something to a 14:01.153 --> 14:03.890 lot of people I thought of how about a 14:03.890 --> 14:07.400 Harley Davidson ? Harley Davidson was 14:07.400 --> 14:09.670 founded in Wisconsin , but the wall 14:09.670 --> 14:12.450 bike would be no ordinary showroom Hog . 14:13.040 --> 14:16.750 Mm okay , all this started was actually 14:16.750 --> 14:18.700 Hog and Pollock come up along with 14:18.700 --> 14:21.250 other people came up with an idea to 14:21.250 --> 14:23.800 maybe build a bike as a commemorative 14:23.810 --> 14:26.960 as in memory of all the brothers and 14:26.960 --> 14:29.360 sisters over the course of the next 14:29.360 --> 14:32.130 year . So the idea of all build a 14:32.130 --> 14:34.680 custom motorcycle from scratch with 14:34.680 --> 14:36.730 major parts donated from across the 14:36.730 --> 14:39.600 state Master motorcycle restore Willie 14:39.600 --> 14:41.544 Key effort was asked to put it all 14:41.544 --> 14:43.767 together . We had to kind of build it , 14:43.767 --> 14:46.610 take it all apart , then paint it fit 14:46.610 --> 14:48.777 everything . I think it took Hog , you 14:48.777 --> 14:51.480 want to take us a year , one year , one 14:51.480 --> 14:54.170 year , I think it took us a year a 14:54.170 --> 14:56.170 frame was donated , then altered to 14:56.170 --> 14:58.490 make it more level . A design contest 14:58.490 --> 15:00.546 was run for the paint job on the gas 15:00.546 --> 15:02.970 tank and fenders . Every detail was to 15:02.970 --> 15:06.260 have meaning we had a dog tag made . 15:07.040 --> 15:10.780 There's one for every One of the 37 15:10.810 --> 15:13.500 servicemen that were listed as missing 15:13.500 --> 15:16.440 in action from Vietnam . The seat was 15:16.450 --> 15:20.040 never sat on the seat is for our 15:20.040 --> 15:22.151 brothers and sisters on the wall when 15:22.151 --> 15:24.096 they come home . So they'll have a 15:24.096 --> 15:28.070 place to ride with us . We wanted 15:28.070 --> 15:30.237 it to be a bike that would reflect the 15:30.237 --> 15:33.000 era where we came back and this bike 15:33.010 --> 15:35.080 wasn't built to give to the United 15:35.080 --> 15:37.700 States government . This bike was built 15:37.710 --> 15:41.550 for the 58,000 plus people on the wall . 15:41.580 --> 15:45.450 This is their bike . Nobody else . Okay , 15:45.450 --> 15:47.506 first , down in the left here we got 15:47.506 --> 15:51.030 Mongol , then we have kickstand and 15:51.030 --> 15:54.260 jen we got Pollak and Marlene 15:54.940 --> 15:57.400 Devin shooter . The bike was left at 15:57.400 --> 15:59.400 the Wall as part of Rolling Thunder 15:59.400 --> 16:02.390 weekend in 1995 and offering the park 16:02.390 --> 16:04.612 service . At first I didn't know how to 16:04.612 --> 16:06.800 accept , but Hog man and his group 16:06.810 --> 16:08.977 helped transport it to the warehouse . 16:09.240 --> 16:11.370 We took it over there and it's uh , 16:11.380 --> 16:13.380 it's been sitting there and they've 16:13.380 --> 16:15.491 been watching it ever since . They're 16:15.491 --> 16:17.713 doing a good job over there . Thank you 16:17.713 --> 16:19.880 so much . It's become one of the stars 16:19.880 --> 16:21.936 of the collection shown all over the 16:21.936 --> 16:24.102 country When museums mount exhibits of 16:24.102 --> 16:26.324 wall offerings , It always travels with 16:26.324 --> 16:28.436 a plaque Commemorating all the people 16:28.436 --> 16:30.580 who contributed to its creation . We 16:30.580 --> 16:32.580 just are all part of it has been my 16:32.580 --> 16:34.820 pleasure . I've been honored to be able 16:34.820 --> 16:36.850 to contribute . Mhm . 16:39.110 --> 16:41.560 In the spring of 2010 , the V . F . W 16:41.560 --> 16:43.870 posted a million dollar bond . So the 16:43.880 --> 16:45.936 Park service would let Hog man bring 16:45.936 --> 16:48.047 the bike back to Wisconsin to restore 16:48.047 --> 16:50.080 it to its original condition , new 16:50.080 --> 16:52.630 tires , a repaint job and careful touch 16:52.630 --> 16:55.490 ups of small dings and details . What's 16:55.500 --> 16:58.380 what you're saying ? The bike was shown 16:58.380 --> 17:00.324 at the Vietnam Veterans Homecoming 17:00.324 --> 17:02.436 observance in Wisconsin . Then return 17:02.436 --> 17:04.436 to the collection over Memorial Day 17:04.436 --> 17:08.140 weekend . The Park service might be 17:08.150 --> 17:10.960 holding on to it , but it belongs to 17:10.960 --> 17:13.670 the guys on the wall . Our buddies that 17:13.680 --> 17:17.200 didn't come back from Vietnam . This is 17:17.210 --> 17:19.730 their bike . Any time we're out for a 17:19.730 --> 17:22.500 ride , they're riding right next to us 17:22.500 --> 17:25.040 on this . Yeah , 17:26.640 --> 17:28.880 hug man lives in the vicinity of Holy 17:28.890 --> 17:31.120 Hill , a monastery in church that can 17:31.120 --> 17:34.810 be seen for miles a Wisconsin land on a 17:34.810 --> 17:37.120 roadside scale . Haldeman's place is a 17:37.120 --> 17:40.830 shrine to Vietnam vets and two pow mias 17:41.340 --> 17:43.507 people leave offerings in his yard all 17:43.507 --> 17:45.729 the time . He's grown to appreciate the 17:45.729 --> 17:47.729 national Monument hundreds of miles 17:47.729 --> 17:50.400 away . That inspired the idea of public 17:50.400 --> 17:53.810 offerings . It's definitely a healing 17:53.860 --> 17:56.960 process that you go through at the wall . 17:57.440 --> 17:59.440 That's where you leave your heart . 17:59.440 --> 18:01.607 That's where you leave your thoughts . 18:01.607 --> 18:03.920 That's that's where you leave a lot of 18:03.930 --> 18:06.770 tears and nothing wrong with that . 18:13.640 --> 18:15.710 You should all go there once in a 18:15.710 --> 18:17.980 lifetime because you need to see like 18:17.990 --> 18:19.060 what we saw . 18:25.940 --> 18:29.270 Yeah , it was like , 18:30.290 --> 18:33.550 thank you . Yes . Mhm . 18:34.940 --> 18:38.710 1996 5th graders at South Scotland 18:38.710 --> 18:40.821 Elementary School have been making an 18:40.821 --> 18:42.932 annual bus trip to Washington D . C . 18:43.140 --> 18:45.362 For the majority of the students who go 18:45.362 --> 18:47.529 the trip is a major highlight of their 18:47.529 --> 18:49.696 school career . The big kids have been 18:49.696 --> 18:51.918 hearing about it since pre kindergarten 18:52.940 --> 18:56.460 when I went to Washington and like pop 18:57.040 --> 18:59.040 Everything just started getting the 18:59.040 --> 19:00.984 side in the 5th grade and it was a 19:00.984 --> 19:04.530 seven hour trip . Yeah , I couldn't go 19:04.530 --> 19:07.090 to sleep because I was so excited . You 19:07.090 --> 19:09.620 should , I'll go there once in a 19:09.620 --> 19:11.731 lifetime because you could , you need 19:11.731 --> 19:14.430 to see like what we saw the stuff that 19:14.430 --> 19:17.700 we saw the class visits D . C . Area 19:17.700 --> 19:19.589 landmarks like Mount vernon , the 19:19.589 --> 19:21.900 capital , the White House . They attend 19:21.900 --> 19:24.067 a changing of the guard at the Tomb of 19:24.067 --> 19:26.122 the Unknowns even participating in a 19:26.122 --> 19:28.289 wreath ceremony . The Vietnam Veterans 19:28.289 --> 19:30.180 Memorial has always been on the 19:30.180 --> 19:32.347 itinerary . Each group is going to get 19:32.347 --> 19:35.560 the pick one monument Vietnam 19:35.560 --> 19:38.610 and you guys at the White House Ryan 19:38.610 --> 19:41.120 curly's social studies class spent much 19:41.120 --> 19:43.342 of the year researching the places they 19:43.342 --> 19:45.610 would visit now after the trip . More 19:45.610 --> 19:47.900 research using the internet and turning 19:47.900 --> 19:49.789 the whole exercise into kind of a 19:49.789 --> 19:53.230 technology game Ryan himself is younger 19:53.230 --> 19:55.790 than the wall . Vietnam is discussed as 19:55.790 --> 19:58.150 part of an overview of wars in american 19:58.160 --> 20:00.520 history . Yeah . After we talk about 20:00.520 --> 20:02.520 Vietnam and after we talk about the 20:02.520 --> 20:04.687 military and things of that nature , I 20:04.687 --> 20:06.909 actually let the kids discuss what they 20:06.909 --> 20:09.076 think . What is the military , what is 20:09.076 --> 20:10.964 going over to fighting in another 20:10.964 --> 20:12.964 country maybe for a cause you don't 20:12.964 --> 20:15.076 even understand what , what is that . 20:15.076 --> 20:17.131 And then they talk about it and that 20:17.131 --> 20:16.860 leads us to writing a letter and I 20:16.860 --> 20:19.790 think that's what opens up the let's 20:19.790 --> 20:22.012 the kids try to connect with the person 20:22.012 --> 20:24.234 they're writing to and not just make it 20:24.234 --> 20:26.457 about themselves . The letter I wrote , 20:26.457 --> 20:28.234 I wrote it and I thank them for 20:28.234 --> 20:30.457 fighting in the war for us because that 20:30.457 --> 20:32.690 was a very brave thing to do . I asked 20:32.690 --> 20:36.110 them , I said , I have a person in my 20:36.110 --> 20:39.530 family that is in the war in Iraq now 20:39.540 --> 20:41.820 and I know that they don't get to come 20:41.820 --> 20:44.800 home very often and see the people and 20:44.810 --> 20:46.754 I know back then that y'all had no 20:46.754 --> 20:49.200 choice to go over there and y'all never 20:49.200 --> 20:51.500 knew when I was going to get shot . I 20:51.500 --> 20:54.970 wrote given knob soldier 20:54.980 --> 20:58.240 trooper , thank you for all you did for 20:58.240 --> 21:01.590 our country and risking your life 21:01.600 --> 21:04.900 to save the United States . The letter 21:04.900 --> 21:07.040 writing and the trip started under 21:07.040 --> 21:09.151 social studies teacher Shirley Royals 21:09.151 --> 21:11.830 now retired when her classes research 21:11.830 --> 21:13.941 the places to visit on the very first 21:13.941 --> 21:15.941 trip , the students saw pictures of 21:15.941 --> 21:18.230 Mementos left at the wall and the 21:18.230 --> 21:20.950 Children were just curious as to why 21:20.950 --> 21:23.800 people did this and to whom they were 21:23.800 --> 21:26.160 left . And we would talk about 21:27.440 --> 21:30.490 a lot more family and family members 21:30.500 --> 21:33.260 and some were actually leaving them to 21:33.740 --> 21:37.560 relatives that are deceased . And from 21:37.560 --> 21:40.700 that , we came up with the idea that 21:40.710 --> 21:42.766 they could write their own letter to 21:42.766 --> 21:45.470 leave as a keepsake . Teachers and 21:45.470 --> 21:47.980 students alike come back touched by the 21:47.980 --> 21:50.147 act of placing the letters at the wall 21:50.310 --> 21:52.254 and actually seeing the memorial . 21:52.740 --> 21:54.573 There was a lot of emotions just 21:54.573 --> 21:58.520 walking past the wall like sadness 21:58.520 --> 22:02.470 and a lot of stuff . They're very calm 22:02.480 --> 22:05.250 because they know what it represents 22:05.260 --> 22:07.260 and they're they're just walking in 22:07.260 --> 22:09.371 like um just running their hands down 22:09.371 --> 22:12.250 the wall to as they go and then looking 22:12.250 --> 22:14.250 at the some of the names , a lot of 22:14.250 --> 22:16.417 them walk up to the wall and they want 22:16.417 --> 22:18.417 to touch it and feel it and I don't 22:18.417 --> 22:20.583 know if that's just a they're concrete 22:20.583 --> 22:22.694 way of saying this is actually a real 22:22.694 --> 22:22.170 thing . These are real people that 22:22.340 --> 22:24.562 we're alive at one time and now they're 22:24.562 --> 22:26.618 gone or not here . I don't know what 22:26.618 --> 22:28.729 happened to them . Well , I thought , 22:28.729 --> 22:31.920 well that's a lot of soldiers and 22:31.930 --> 22:35.700 well , yeah , I felt bad 22:35.700 --> 22:38.570 because all the soldiers was their life 22:38.570 --> 22:41.960 where they got lost . I was , I was 22:41.960 --> 22:44.127 amazed because I didn't know that that 22:44.127 --> 22:46.480 many people had fought and died in the 22:46.480 --> 22:49.370 war . The Children choose whether to 22:49.370 --> 22:51.530 leave their letters along the wall or 22:51.530 --> 22:53.641 put them in a container at the apex . 22:54.440 --> 22:57.730 My grandpa , he fought in the Vietnam 22:57.730 --> 23:01.270 war and 23:01.740 --> 23:05.240 when we put it doing on Amish , I was 23:05.240 --> 23:08.850 gonna cry because I think we , 23:09.340 --> 23:13.190 hey , he had died two months ago and 23:13.190 --> 23:16.450 remembering him was actually sad . 23:17.520 --> 23:19.840 The names of nine men from Lauren Berg 23:19.850 --> 23:23.610 are engraved . I have a list of the 23:23.620 --> 23:25.880 local people that have , where are 23:25.880 --> 23:27.991 deceased and their name is around the 23:27.991 --> 23:31.270 wall and I always try to place one of 23:31.270 --> 23:33.560 the letters close to that location . 23:34.140 --> 23:37.890 What You're taller . My 23:37.890 --> 23:41.340 wife and I are in 2010 a response 23:41.420 --> 23:44.060 Richard besides a Vietnam veteran and 23:44.060 --> 23:46.282 retired schoolteacher from Pennsylvania 23:46.282 --> 23:48.870 picked up Tyler Birds letter , read it 23:48.880 --> 23:50.840 and wrote back . You and your 23:50.840 --> 23:53.330 classmates has done a wonderful thing 23:53.340 --> 23:57.250 to write to us . Tyler is 23:57.250 --> 23:59.417 one of the handful of military kids in 23:59.417 --> 24:01.880 South Scotland . His father is deployed 24:01.880 --> 24:04.990 to Iraq . I included the army because 24:04.990 --> 24:07.740 my dad's in the army and they start 24:07.740 --> 24:09.851 having interesting if somebody got to 24:09.851 --> 24:12.260 read it and I talked about their 24:12.260 --> 24:16.160 freedom because I wanted to thank 24:16.160 --> 24:18.370 you about freedom . Richard , vast 24:18.370 --> 24:21.270 ideas flew marine helicopters in 1965 24:21.270 --> 24:24.420 and 66 but he didn't spend many words 24:24.420 --> 24:27.160 on his Vietnam service instead . He 24:27.160 --> 24:29.740 asked Tyler about himself , do you like 24:29.740 --> 24:33.060 music ? You play a sport like the 24:33.060 --> 24:36.370 sport . Tell me a specific player you 24:36.370 --> 24:39.030 like off that team . The letter was 24:39.030 --> 24:41.252 written in cursive , which is no longer 24:41.252 --> 24:43.419 taught at South Scotland . So Tyler at 24:43.419 --> 24:45.363 first had a hard time reading it , 24:45.363 --> 24:47.474 given the choice of taking it home or 24:47.474 --> 24:49.641 first reading it in school . He picked 24:49.641 --> 24:52.060 social studies class and I read it to 24:52.060 --> 24:54.200 them and another teacher then took it 24:54.200 --> 24:56.367 in her reading class and they're ready 24:56.367 --> 24:58.740 to hit Tyler's reading class and they 24:58.740 --> 25:00.907 just had a ball with it . They were so 25:00.907 --> 25:03.073 excited And I think every child really 25:03.073 --> 25:05.129 hopes now they get a letter back and 25:05.129 --> 25:07.520 Tyler hopes he has a pen pal . Yeah , I 25:07.520 --> 25:10.680 was happy . And I got it because I 25:10.680 --> 25:12.847 didn't think I was going to get rolled 25:12.847 --> 25:16.120 back and yeah , I'm happy I got to get 25:16.120 --> 25:19.190 right back because now I can do a send 25:19.190 --> 25:21.412 him a letter . He sent me a letter back 25:23.870 --> 25:26.092 in Underground education center will be 25:26.092 --> 25:27.870 built near the Vietnam Veterans 25:27.870 --> 25:29.870 Memorial for new fifth graders from 25:29.870 --> 25:32.148 Lawrenceburg and other future visitors . 25:32.148 --> 25:34.370 It will display a selection of the park 25:34.370 --> 25:36.314 service collection . The offerings 25:36.314 --> 25:38.537 continue to come at the wall has become 25:38.537 --> 25:40.759 a bridge between Vietnam vets and those 25:40.759 --> 25:43.830 who oppose the conflict and it's really 25:43.830 --> 25:45.719 gone beyond that . It's become an 25:45.719 --> 25:47.886 educational device for people who have 25:47.886 --> 25:51.020 no recollection of Vietnam half of the 25:51.020 --> 25:53.620 people who visit the memorial Are 25:53.620 --> 25:55.731 literally younger than the memorial . 25:55.870 --> 25:58.960 They're younger than age 25 . Forget 25:58.960 --> 26:02.030 the Vietnam War that's even longer . 26:03.070 --> 26:05.126 The south Scotland elementary school 26:05.126 --> 26:07.237 letters will wind up at the warehouse 26:07.237 --> 26:09.237 in Maryland where they'll be stored 26:09.237 --> 26:11.014 away for researchers and museum 26:11.014 --> 26:13.070 curators is down the road along with 26:13.070 --> 26:15.292 items like this perfectly good guitar , 26:15.292 --> 26:17.459 missing one string that showed up with 26:17.459 --> 26:20.350 no explanation . So again , the viewers , 26:21.540 --> 26:24.250 they contrived their own stories as to 26:24.250 --> 26:27.960 why it was left . 26:31.440 --> 26:33.510 The wall still resonates deeply with 26:33.510 --> 26:35.820 the Vietnam generation but it's also 26:35.820 --> 26:37.876 found meaning to those who were born 26:37.876 --> 26:39.931 long after the conflict ended . It's 26:39.931 --> 26:41.876 still the most visited memorial in 26:41.876 --> 26:44.098 Washington D . C . And it will serve as 26:44.098 --> 26:46.320 an enduring testament to those who died 26:46.320 --> 26:48.431 in Southeast Asia and to the ultimate 26:48.431 --> 26:50.209 sacrifice anyone serving in the 26:50.209 --> 26:52.720 military may have to make . I'm Staff 26:52.720 --> 26:54.887 sergeant brian Buckhalter . Thanks for 26:54.887 --> 26:55.942 watching recover . 26:58.840 --> 27:00.350 Yeah . Mhm . 27:04.940 --> 27:08.560 Mhm . Mhm . Yeah . 27:12.840 --> 27:13.040 Yeah .