This was the longest Friday I've lived in a long time! Boarded on the buses at 8:30 a.m. and headed up to D.C. and the Iwo Jima Memorial.. looked outside in the morning and it was gray and raining. Lord, I prayed, please let us have the weather we need for this very important day. And He did.
It was group picture time and as the men grouped into their platoons for pictures, into the big group and as small groups of folks snapped photos on the side, there was a spirit of camaraderie and cheer. They all seemed genuinely happy to be together and, I think, began the bonding that occurred throughout the day. Many of the guys have shared that they weren't necessarily keen on coming, but their wives really encouraged them to do this - certainly true in our case.
Next stop: Vietnam Wall. How to tell you about this.... Except for one group of ill-mannered school children, there was a respectful hush there as people walked by the wall, starting at the beginning of the war where just a few names appear and continuing as the wall gets larger and deeper into the ground and full of names, continuing on out to the end rising to the surface again so to speak. Our guys stopped at their years which were the absolute peak years of the war. They found their friends on the wall, they stood in small clusters talking and sharing their experiences for quite some time. It rained a little while we were there but no one seemed to notice that much. After a little while, I meandered back to the bus as I was tired of being jostled by people trying to pass. Didn't seem to bother the guys at all. When I got to the bus, Tony Hilliard was standing there so we visited for awhile. Tony stayed in the Corps and ended his career as a Lt. Col. Lots of moves, lots of sacrifice but the family seems to have done well with this. A group of teenagers came to get on their bus. They are studying Vietnam and had a veteran with their group. Many of them came over and shook Tony's hand saying "Thank you!" and "Welcome Home!" Very touching and he really appreciated that.
The group came together again and one busload of us prepared to head to Bethesda Naval Hospital while the other two went off to tour D.C. We had no idea really what the plan was for the hospital and I think all of us assumed we would be visiting and encouraging wounded warriors. Because of this, I had asked all of my facebook friends to send messages for these patients for me to deliver. I put them together on several bright colored sheets with facebook symbols and called it From My Wall to Yours. I realized when we got there as did all the others that we had been mistaken.
First, the guy who I believe is second in command there, boarded our bus. He spoke with us about a new structure coming as Walter Reed is going to be shut down and all care will be done at the Bethesda site as it becomes the center for care of wounded warriors. We were then taken for a "windshield tour" of the campus with his commentary. This included seeing 4 beautiful Fisher houses (homes provided by the Fisher family to house multiple patient families.) One of our guys is a friend of the family and on the board in NYC! It's a pleasant peaceful place. Next stop was to tour NICoE - National Intrepid Center of Excellence. Once again, our guy is on the board here as well! We had a full presentation of the mission and what happens there before touring the building. This is a place where very holistically and innovatively, patients with Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are treated.
It was pointed out that this was a direct result of the new kind of injuries sustained in modern warfare and what was not done after Vietnam. The penny dropped as the saying goes. The guys had been at the wall, looked at thousands of names of people who gave their lives in a war won on the battlefield but lost in the press and abandoned for PR reasons and due to political cowardice. I know that many were asking once again, "For what?" But here was one of the answers. Here was the Lord bringing good out of terrible circumstances. It was absolutely wonderful to see the encouragement this brought.
We toured the facility in small groups and as we went around I wondered what to do about my facebook pages. I had been so sure there would be an opportunity to share these. Decided to just offer them to our tour leader, a young Marine officer, and tell him what they were about and to assure him that if they had no use for them, they could dispose of them. But I was a little sad because so many from even other parts of the world had participated. Well, he looked a little concerned when I first started to pull something out - no idea what he was thinking I was going to hand him (haha! -tracts!) but when he heard what I had done and saw them, he lit up with a smile and even asked if they could be duplicated - Yay! Many of the messages of course were spiritual in nature so the Word went forth. We did meet for @ 15 mins. with a few staff and a couple of patients in another place and then got back on those buses!
Off to 8th and I which Munn had so been looking forward to having me see. I had never gotten there but now I have! Awesome evening as we watched and listened to the Marine Corps Band, the Marine Drum and Bugle Corps and a huge drill team. Beautiful reds and blues, twirling rifles, amazing synchronization in the silent drill team and regular drill. Wonderful patriotic music including Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American played AND sung by the band. And ended by a lone bugler on the top of a building playing Taps!
What a day of highs and lows, of frustration and pride, of tears and smiles. Marines have the most amazing code which stresses honor and humility. Did you know they have less decoration on their uniforms than other services? That is intentional. So grateful and so concerned that we could lose this in our nation if we are not careful.
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