It is an enduring testimonial to the patriotism, honor, and selflessness of 58,276 American heroes who gave their lives for their country and their comrades in arms during the Vietnam War.

It is a monument to the greatness within individuals. 

It is beautiful work of art. It is depressing. It is celebratory. It is black.

It is engraved in white letters with those 58,276 names. One was fifteen years old. Eight were women.  Forty sets of brothers. Three sets of Father and Son. Average age is under twenty-three. Over 1,500 are unaccounted for.

It is The Wall That Heals, a three-quarter scaled replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. Three hundred and seventy-five feet long. It stands now in our community. In Ocean Pines.

Forty-five volunteers showed up Wednesday morning to erect the wall. Driving metal stakes. Carrying and assembling the metal framework. Lugging heavy wall panels the length of a football field. Grueling work. They labored non-stop from early morning until late afternoon.

These were not all young, strong individuals. These were predominately seniors. Men and women over sixty. Some well over sixty. One woman appeared on the verge of collapse. Someone grabbed her end of a wall panel. She sat down. Ten minutes later she emerged from the gaping end of the trailer containing the Wall pieces, again carrying one end of another heavy wall panel.

They were showing their respect for the devotion and ultimate sacrifice of those who never came home from a war far, far away. No question, this was a labor of love. Of appreciation. For those with names on the wall, and for those who survived and returned to an American populace shamefully not ready to recognize their amazing sacrifice.

As a photographer, I photographed the workers’ efforts. Later Wednesday evening, I returned to view and photograph The Wall That Heals in the faint afterglow of dusk merging into night. For a time I was alone with The Wall. The enormity of the individual and family sacrifice stretched out before me in the symbolism of the Wall was overwhelming. Like the universe, it is beyond comprehension.