I went to visit your names today, engraved upon the Wall. You're there for all the world to see and know you gave your all. You're over 58,000 strong and you served your country well. Then came that day you met your fate as one by one you fell. You didn't want to fall that way, so young and in a war so rotten. I pray each day when I think of you that your names won't be forgotton. I want you to know that as I write Americans have taken a stand. We want to know "What was your fate?" The truth is all we demand. If you're still alive, I pray "Dear God, please comfort these dear men. "Release them from their torture and pain and bring them home again."

Written by Michael E. Bliss

Comments: This poem was left in my guestbook by one of my visitors.    It was accompanied by the message below.    Together, they eloquently express something that many veterans of the VietNam War brought home with them--a sense of guilt in just having survived.    It is a guilt that those of us who never served should perhaps own instead, for in our receipt of our returning service men and women, some of us did little to alleviate their grief, little to welcome them.    Thus, many of those who knew that war as a part of their young lives are still trying to find their way "home," to that sense of emotional space of comfort that means home. My wife found this website and called it to my attention. As a veteran, I am deeply moved by a lot of what I have read and seen. If I may, I want to share a couple of things with you. Regarding From Itice on "Reflections," when I first saw that print, I wanted it, but couldn't justify the money. This year, about a month ago, I was presented with a framed and matted copy by the class that I taught this year (I have taught nights for four years at the electrical apprenticeship school here in Wichita). I don't see the man in the picture as a relative of the man inside the Wall. I see him as a member of a unit that was almost wiped out in an ambush, with him being the only survivor. He is visiting his buddies and trying to overcome the guilt of surviving when they didn't. They are trying to let him know that it is okay. The bond that the men share is obvious, as is the love. I also want to include a poem I wrote. I have not yet had the honor to visit the Wall in D.C., but I have visited a couple of the touring replicas. The first one--I only stayed a few minutes then I had to leave. The second one, I vowed to stay longer, which I did. By the time I got home, I was pretty wound up. I went to my office in my basement and wrote the following: [the poem above.]

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