Father's Day at the Vietnam War Wall

David and Jay cleaning at the Wall
Father's Day early morning 2011

Volunteers put roses together
 with Father's Day cards

Father's Day 2011 was a touching experience for Shelly, my brother Jay and I.  We spent the early morning hours of Sunday alone at the famous Vietnam War wall, picking up litter and cleaning the wall itself.  Apparently, the Park Service relies on volunteers to do this once in a while, and we thought we'd provide some service, while remembering our Dad, LTC Robert Campbell, on our first Father's Day without him.  We met with some other volunteers who told us about their service project for later in the day.  A veterans group had collected Father's Day greeting cards and put them with roses for several thousand of the fathers listed on the wall.  After assembling the roses with the cards, the volunteers touched the name for each of the fathers whose families had sent wishes, read the wishes to the wall, and placed the flower and card at the appropriate panel on the wall.  Within a few hours, the famous wall was lined with beautiful red and yellow roses and card bearing sweet, touching sentiments:  "Dad-we miss you still", "Grandpa-I wish we had been able to know you, Happy Father's Day."  All in all, a very touching experience of a special day.  Happy Father's Day, Dad.