Polishing the Brass
Army Sgt. Caleb Barrieau plans to honor on Monday -- Memorial Day -- the 58,195 fallen troops whose names are inscribed on the Vietnam Memorial the same way he has every weekend for the past nine weeks - with a can of Brasso and a polishing rag.
Shortly after he transferred from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., for training at the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Md., he went on a run on the Washington Mall. He came upon the flagpole at the Vietnam Memorial and noticed a young Marine polishing the Marine Corps emblem at the base of the flag pole.
The Marine emblem gleamed. But the 26-year-old Barrieau noticed the Army seal was tarnished. He took a silent vow to ensure it, too, gleamed. Every Sunday he puts on his fatigues, and shows up at the Vietnam Memorial with his can of Brasso and cleaning rag to buff and shine.
At first, Barrieau said he just polished the Army emblem. But then he realized that to fully accomplish his mission he needed to polish the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine emblems, too -- a task he said takes about two hours.
I found out about Barrieau from a young sailor I mentor, Joe Mancinik, who will enter his junior year at The George Washington University this fall. Joe came across Barrieau while walking around the Vietnam Memorial a couple of weeks ago, saw what he was doing, borrowed a rag and started polishing the Navy emblem. He plans to keep burnishing on a regular basis, too.
This weekend, Washington will be replete with all kinds of formal and grand commemorations to honor those who have fallen in battle. But, in my opinion, none will equal the ongoing commemoration performed by Kaleb and Joe with their cans of Brasso and polishing rags.
Searching for the Fallen In Southeast Asia
While much of America views Memorial Day as nothing more than a three-day holiday, the folks at the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command (JPAC) based in Honolulu, are well aware of the true meaning of the day.
While their fellow citizens play, teams from JPAC will work to recover the remains of fallen troops from the Korean and Vietnam wars at sites scattered around Southeast Asia. Air Force Lt. Col. Wayne Perry, a JPAC spokesman, told me that a 12-person team from the command is working this weekend in South Korea, a 51-person team is in Laos and a team of 87 people are in Vietnam.
Though the wars in those countries are long over, the JPAC mission has risks. On April 7, 2007, a commercial Russian M-17 helicopter carrying a seven-person team from a JPAC predecessor organization, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, crashed. All seven died, and we all should remember them on this Memorial Day. They are:
Army Lt. Col. Rennie Cory Jr.
Army Lt. Col. George Martin
Air Force Maj. Charles Lewis
Air Force Msgt. Steven Moser
Navy Corpsman Pedro Gonzalez
Army Sgt. First Class Tommy (cq) Murphy
Air Force Tsgt. Robert Flynn
My Honor Role
This is the time of year to honor family and friends who have served. All my comrades from 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines and 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Vietnam 1965/1966:
My father, Walter Brewin
Army Air Corps
WW II
Okinawa and the Philippines
My father-in-law, William Suess
Tin Can Sailor
WW II
Atlantic and Pacific
Lewis B. Puller Jr.
Friend and fellow Marine
Who touched me with his grace.
Marine Maj. Cornelius Ram
The best company commander any Marine could ever have.
Leon Daniel
Marine Korean War Veteran
UPI bureau chief in Saigon on the last day of the war
Friend, mentor and inspiration
And those who still serve:
Army Lt. Col. George Wright and Navy. Capt. David Wray
They help me with perspective.
COMMENTS
The year is wrong. The JTF-FA helicopter crash occured on April 7th, 2001. The pilots were Vietnamese and the casualties included even more Vietnamese than our 7 US serviceman. It was a huge shock and loss for both our countries.
Andrea Lynne Cory 09/16/09 11:42 pm ET
DEFEND THE WALL - we commend those who cherish and honor the sacrifice of our fallen remembered on the "Wall" and come to make its site a place of pride and respect. That glimering flag base is a great symbol of the continuous care for those whom we have lost in battle and giving the flag for which they died the respect that it deserves. If they have a policy about not being able to polish the base, then it should be revised to allow it with some guidance as to materials and method.
As we attempt to keep alive the memory of those honored on the "Wall" let us be aware of what is being proposed and built around it and that will negatively impact and influence the experience, dignity and uniqueness of this special place and at this momument. Please visit www.equalhonor.org and click on Defend the Wall.
Also read at the Equal Honor For All website about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund attempt to highjack our rights to participate in our government process and in how the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Visitor Center is to come about.
We commend Bob Brewing in highlighting the remembering of our fallen and what Memorial Day is all about. We in Cleveland continue to commemorate the May 30th Traditional Memorial Day observance with a ceremony whose beginnings date back to 1935.
RAY SAIKUS VIETVET 68-69 173RD ABN BRIGADE 06/02/09 03:57 pm ET
There are now 58,261 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Several names have been added every year since it was built, so printed numbers may be out-of-date.
Those who can't go to the Wall in Washington, DC this year can visit the web site named named The Virtual Wall at www.VirtualWall.org
The Virtual Wall has thousands of remembrances in the form of letters, poems, photographs, and citations.
The Virtual Wall web site does not accept fees, donations, subscriptions, or advertising in order to honor the fallen.
Jim 05/22/09 11:44 pm ET