Many years ago I was driving home from the stable after a ride on my buddy and had A Prairie Home Companion on. This song came on and as I listened things got a bit blurry and I had to pull over. Took a while for thing to clear up.
As I do every year, I’ll be going up to the Oregon Vietnam Memorial early in the morning before the official ceremony begins. Located in Washington Park between the Oregon Zoo and the Hoyt Arboretum, its a different kind of memorial.
Inspired by the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, in 1982, a group Oregon Vietnam veterans conceived of the idea of a veterans memorial in Oregon. Through the efforts of many volunteers on behalf of the Vietnam Veterans of Oregon Memorial Fund, the memorial was dedicated in 1987. Designed by Walker Macy, a Portland landscape architecture firm, the curved black granite wall lists the names of all Oregon residents who died in Vietnam or who are missing in action. The wall also chronicles the years of the conflict and concurrent local events, providing a poignant contrast.
Its location in the arboretum provides a serene setting for reflection. The memorial also includes several symbolic components: a bosque of pear trees at the entrance symbolizes life and sacredness; water elements in the Garden of Solace signify life, purity, and hope.
I always go early to miss the crowds as most of the time there is too much of a military vibe during the official event.
Least I get caught up in the past, here is a song written by a friend of mine for a neighbor’s son who died in Iraq clearing land mines. The full story behind the writing is here.
Steve and I recorded this song on August 3, 2003 at Big Red Studio in Corbett at the mouth of the Columbia Gorge. When we returned to the studio shortly after recording "Travis John", the owner-engineer, Billy Oskay, told us that Travis' uncle Frank, a contractor had called him after hearing word about the song. Frank had coincidentally built Billy's recording studio and called Billy to remind him that Travis had been on his crew and had actually helped him build "Big Red Studio" board by board just a few short years before. Billy was stunned as he suddenly remembered Travis well; hammer in hand and a grin on his face, and only then put it together that the two Travis' were one and the same. He remembered that he was a good worker with a great attitude.
I’m reading David Halberstam's last book, The Coldest Winter: America and the Korean War.
I may review it at a later date but Boy Howdy what a clusterfuck that forgotten war was.
Googling to see if there are any songs about the Korean War comes up with mighty small pickings. Here is a site with a pretty good list, Music About the Korean War: 1950-1954.
Songs about the Korean War are fairly rare, at least when compared to other American Wars, and were dominated by four main themes: patriotism, the soldier in battle, faith, and emotional pain. A few songs expressed discontent about the war, but none of them opposed it outright . In this context, Korean War songs represent a transitional phase between the patriotic and sometimes naive songs of World War II, and the anti-War songs of the Vietnam era. Most Korean War songs came from the country music genre, just a few years before the advent of rock 'n' roll.
I’ll leave a can of beer and a pack of smokes up at the wall from my year there (68-69).