Stumbled upon, as usual. I first got to the archive of items left at the wall. Letters like this one are so poignant, and made me imagine this younger brother walking down that pathway down into the wedge (and made me remember the initial controversies about the memorial and its designer Maya Lin, and just how wrong the criticisms were and the powerful memorial that actually memorializes that it became), leaving this letter on the ground under a long column of names but apparently not referenced to any of them, about how his brother was supposed to come home in a week, told the younger one to buy a case of beer for the fridge when he got home, but then volunteers for a rescue mission where he is killed. At the end of this sweet sweet letter thhe at made me think of MY older brother, who drew a high draft number and never had to consider going, is "PS I drank the case of beer." Letter was found and dated by a Park rangerm, I think, and then passed on to a volunteer (?) at the memorial fund to add really quite extensive metadata. The time it must have taken to read and summarize the content of the letter and enter it as metadata! Then there's the Wall of Faces, which can be searched either by name or by hometown; here's the 21, 22, and 21 year-old boys from Cheswick PA that were killed and that my brother knew. Anyone can "Leave a Remembrance;" mostly these are family members or friends, but sometimes it appears to be just another vet who is just making sure this person is recognized:
Dear PFC James Joseph Koprivnikar, sir
As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.
May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.
With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir
Curt Carter
And then there is the Honor Roll of men who served in Vietnam but were not killed there: an endless gallery of snapshots, all metadata-ed up...
