> Dave's feelings about the Vietnam Memorial were
>also mine on the only occasion I saw it. Vietnam
>is not a war that looms large in the
>consciousness of New Zealanders - I think we
>sent some medics, but "our" Vietnam was
>Gallipoli in World War I. However, the Vietnam
>Memorial in D.C. is the most moving war memorial
>I have ever seen. I can only imagine its impact
>on those who were more closely involved.

It's sort of odd you should mention the Gallipoli campaign. On my plane flight home from DC, I was mulling over my thoughts about the Vietnam Memorial, putting together the emotions and thoughts that would eventually become this post. But my thoughts kept returning to an Australian song I used to know, called "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda". The only thing I really remembered well was the last refrain, that goes like this:

'But the band plays "Waltzing Matilda,"
And the old men still answer the call,
But as year follows year, more old men disappear
Someday, no one will march there at all.'


The song, of course, is written about the men who fought for Australia in the Gallipoli campaign, and the last refrain refers to the yearly parades held to honor those who fought in this battle. I find it an incrediably moving song, but I never really knew that there might be any sort of connection between it and the Vietnam war, and was wondering why my mind dredged it up while I was thinking about Vietnam. I guess now I know.