The National Mall. It’s what I, and probably the majority of those of you out there, envision when I think of our Nation’s Capital. From the Lincoln Memorial to the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial to the Reflecting Pool to the WWII Memorial to the Washington Monument and so forth, those landmarks are my vision of what Washington, D.C. is. Of course that’s coming from a tourist’s point of view who’s first impressions of D.C. are made up of images from t.v. and history books from an elementary school library. I should also mention that the White House and Capital Hill are also tops on my list of what Washington, D.C. is all about, but for the sake of this entry I’m going to rank the National Mall before them simply because I never quite made it to Capital Hill and while I did get to see the White House, it wasn’t quite as spectacular as I thought it would be. That’s not to say the White House wasn’t amazing to see in person, it’s just that it didn’t live up to what turned out to be overly my high expectations in the end. With exception to the sniper who was walking around in plain view for all to see on the roof.
Anyways moving on, part two of my D.C. trip picks up where I left off. After spending about two and a half hours in Arlington National Cemetery I decided that I really had to get a move on if I was going to make it to the National Mall and eventually the White House before having to head back to Bethesda to cover Sophiline and Khmer Arts’ first official practice session. The next portion of my self guided tour started with what turned out to be a longer than expected walk across the Arlington Memorial Bridge. Now the one thing that I have to mention about D.C. is that everything seems like it’s within a short walking distance when you first look at things. That turns out to be an illusion; however, because once you start walking you then realize that you’re in for a lot longer walk than you ever expected.
My first stop along the National Mall was the Lincoln Memorial. It’s pretty much what you expect to see and after hearing about how big Lincoln’s statue is supposed to be, there’s no surprise in how small you really feel while standing below it. And as expected, there were plenty of tourists around but it actually wasn’t as crowded as I had thought it would be. Though I would have to guess that assumption would be true if I had been there on a weekend instead of a weekday.
My second stop along the National Mall was the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial where I met a homeless Vietnam Vet with cancer whom I really felt for. Yes I know, while there are plenty of those who take advantage of things by pretending to be a homeless Vietnam Vet who has been forgotten by his country just to get a free handout, I honestly believe that he was the real deal. You’re probably wondering how do I know if he’s a phony or for real and honestly I can’t prove that he was a 100%, genuine, real Vietnam Vet. But I can say that he answered enough of the right questions to convince me that he’s the real thing. As a history and military buff, I’ve been an avid reader of the Vietnam War since I was in high school. It started when I picked up a book by Gary R. Smith, author of “Death in the Jungle: Diary of a Navy SEAL”. Gary R. Smith’s account of his first tour in Vietnam grabbed my attention so much that it became the beginning of one of probably 50 or more books that I’ve read about the Vietnam War authored by those who fought in it. So over the years I’ve read up on a thing or two about what units served where, what battles were fought, who did what and so on.
When I first met the gentleman (he’s in the 7th picture down), he was giving an oral history of the Wall to a group of tourists. As I walked closer towards him, I started to listen more in on his words towards the tourists since I figured he must have been a tour guide or something simply by the way he held their attention. After he gave the crowd a quick oral history of the Wall, the War and how to find names everyone quickly dispersed. That’s when I realized that he was not a tour guide at all but rather just someone who was helping the tourists out. I figured he might be a real Vet based on all the knowledge he had of the wall and because that’s what his had said so I decided to approach him and ask how he was doing. He told me he wasn’t feeling so well and had better days before having cancer but was glad that the weather was fairly nice. He then told me a bit about the Wall and asked if I was in the service. I told him no, I had been turned down because of my asthma although I do have plenty of close friends and family in the service including my best friend. We got into talking a bit and I asked him if he was a Vietnam Vet to which he confirmed he was. I then asked him what unit he was with and how many tours he did and was told that he served with the 101st Airborne in the Ashau Valley then had a second tour with the 5th Special Forces. At that point my nationality came up and when he found out I was from Cambodian and born in a refugee camp he told me that the last 18 names on the Wall were from those who were killed in Cambodia during the Mayaguez incident and that he had also spent some time at a small firebase near the Cambodian border with his Special Forces A Team.
During a lull in our conversation he saw a WWII Vet with an 82nd Airborne hat on and gave him a bit of grief for being from that “other Airborne unit”. They joked around a bit and when the WWII Vet asked him how was doing today, he told him not so great because of his cancer. The WWII Vet asked him if it was from exposure to agent orange to which he confirmed it was. He also added that he had been fighting with the government for the last 6 years over his VA benefits and it had been a long and bitter fight. What really got me then was how you could see the pain in his eyes when he talked about his cancer and the government the second time. And I mean that literally, you could see pain, as in the pain that he was hurting from and the pain from the being denied his VA benefits by the government he served for at that very moment. There was a quiet moment at that point before the WWII Vet asked him if he needed any help. He told him that yes, he could use a bit of help because he was now homeless after losing his job months ago and was living in a homeless shelter a couple miles down. The WWII Vet asked if he would take any money to which he responded yes, if the WWII Vet really wanted to donate some he would take it because food was hard for him to come by these days. After the WWII Vet handed him some cash, the Vietnam Vet then turned to help some other visitors try and scratch a name off of the wall when they tore a hole through their paper. He handed them a pencil and another spare sheet of paper that he had in his backpack before turning back to me to resume our conversation. At that point, I really felt bad for the gentleman and really wanted to do something for him. I figured I could make him the offer that if he would be willing to tell me a few of his stories I would buy him lunch in exchange. I looked around for a place that I could take him to but there was nothing to be found anywhere nearby other than one food stand selling overpriced junk food. I thought to myself that he could eat from there any other day and I didn’t want to take him to just any fast food joint, but a nice sit down restaurant. In the end there wasn’t anything near by and I didn’t want to take up anymore of his time from anyone else so I reached into my pocket and pulled out something for him when he wasn’t looking. I told him thanks for all that he’s done and that his sacrifice, as well as the rest of those on the wall, allowed me to be here standing before him today. With that said, I shook his hand with my donation for him in my hand and walked away to continue the rest of my tour to the Washington Monument and finally the White House.
