Email from Del, who I understand shared his home with Larry Bailey last night and dropped him at the airport at 05:00 this morning [2007.02.28]:

Many of you will already know all or most of this, but just in case... this is what I know at the moment.

The main ad hoc group organizing the general assembling of vets to surround The Wall on March 17th to prevent any desecration or even disrespect to it by the antiwar protest demonstration is the Gathering of Eagles bunch.  (gatheringofeagles.org)

On the one hand, the Park Service has been flooded with letters, calls, e-mails, and general screaming about this, and have committed to having barriers up, lots of police there, and not allowing any sort of flags, banners, etc, that is, major demonstratives, to be carried into the vicinity of The Wall.  And they are not about to let anyone do anything to mark it, scar it, paste anything on it, etc.  They recognize that vet groups will be there, and some sort of liaison has been set up.  On the one hand, no one is to make a big noise of any sort while at The Wall, which means even those who are only there to honor and protect it.  And on the other hand, vets will be more or less allowed to be a barrier of bodies should anyone appear to approach The Wall with some sort of intent to perform any kind of political action there.  All physical action to remove such people (idiots, maniacs, suicidal, whatever they may be) is supposed to be done by the police.

(Continued "below the fold")

Email from Del, who I understand shared his home with Larry Bailey last night and dropped him at the airport at 05:00 this morning:

Many of you will already know all or most of this, but just in case... this is what I know at the moment.

The main ad hoc group organizing the general assembling of vets to surround The Wall on March 17th to prevent any desecration or even disrespect to it by the antiwar protest demonstration is the Gathering of Eagles bunch.  (gatheringofeagles.org)

On the one hand, the Park Service has been flooded with letters, calls, e-mails, and general screaming about this, and have committed to having barriers up, lots of police there, and not allowing any sort of flags, banners, etc, that is, major demonstratives, to be carried into the vicinity of The Wall.  And they are not about to let anyone do anything to mark it, scar it, paste anything on it, etc.  They recognize that vet groups will be there, and some sort of liaison has been set up.  On the one hand, no one is to make a big noise of any sort while at The Wall, which means even those who are only there to honor and protect it.  And on the other hand, vets will be more or less allowed to be a barrier of bodies should anyone appear to approach The Wall with some sort of intent to perform any kind of political action there.  All physical action to remove such people (idiots, maniacs, suicidal, whatever they may be) is supposed to be done by the police.

(Continued "below the fold")

The idea is to keep The Wall safe, but not have any Viet Nam vets involved in even a mild form of violence right in that area.  This would play directly into the hands of the antiwar people, the media would of course instantly revert to the "Rambo" crazy vet images we all know and love, and we'd be the bad guys again.

So in the ideal world, vets will be there, in numbers, in large numbers, maybe in the largest numbers ever since the original dedication, but in a silent and powerful presence that will keep anyone from even thinking of trying anything stupid.  And which will be a solid reassurance to those who stand now where we stood so long ago, out in front of our country, serving and protecting as best they can, and sadly, facing some of the same crap we faced then.  We can hope (and I believe) that the TV coverage that will come and which will be seen on bases in Iraq, Afghanistan, and everywhere else our young people serve, will let them know that we stand with them and for them, that they are respected, appreciated, honored, no matter what politicians and other say.

This is not something that relates only to whether you approve of the war or not.  That's a different subject, a political subject, and we all get to have our own views and desires about it.  But The Wall is not for political purpose one way or another.  It's only about honoring the sacrifice of those who fell while the rest of us were lucky enough to come home. Left, Right, Center, or totally nonpolitical, we can all agree on that.

So I will be there, just to say hi to my friends on The Wall, and honor their memory again, and to attest, by my presence, that the tribute to them, this Memorial for them, cannot and shall not be made into any sort of tool for political purposes.  Demonstrators can demonstrate, they can be nice, not nice, smooth, or stupid, but whatever they do, they won't do it at The Wall.

See you there-

Del