Shin's Comments - 11/09/06

David J. Ewing 1948 - 1969

Eventually we had all our troops officially out and eventually we came to recognize the healing we needed as a nation.  We recovered, and I think "The Wall" as it came to be called had something to do with it.  One of the traditions associated with the wall was the "tracing" of the names.  You put a piece of paper over the name and rub a soft graphite pencil over it and it creates an image of the name.  As I recall, GI's were the first to do it to renmember their comrads.  Then others began to do it. Several years ago it dawned on me that David's name should be there.  The internet was new and I found a place that had some of the names up but not all.  His was not.  Then this last May I was to lead a discussion group for Memorial Day.  I looked again, and I found him.  Same age, same home town.  Same story.  I jotted down the location on the wall where his name was to be and saved it for my pending trip to Washington. In mid-October I made my way to our nation's capitol as part of my vacation.  On my first full day there I got to The Wall.  The National Park Service does a wonderful job helping visitors there.  They gave me some paper specially prepared for the task as well as a pencil with an extra-wide point.  Had I not had the location of David's name, they maintain the cross-reference at the site. As I approached the wall I felt a twinge of sadness at what it represented and knew that indeed the artist had gotten it right.  Why was it so fitting in my eyes I don't know.  It just was.  Some visitors left flowers, some left pictures, some were taking it all in, some like me were looking for one name in particular. I checked the location - Panel 24 West, Line 75.  And there he was.  One name among far too many, the one name I knew.  David J Ewing.  The guy from the old neighborhood I once knew who was on the wall.  I made my tracing. I suppose it's right to remember those who have died in the many wars nations seem to need to fight.  There sure are a lot of memorials, statues and gravesites dedicated to the purpose.  Over 58,000 names are inscribed on the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial. I found one.

I didn't know David Ewing real well.  His mother took on the thankless job of playing Den Mother to my Cub Scout Den.  I didn't realize the thanks I owed her - well, I was only nine.  I knew David's younger brother Larry quite well.  He was my age.  We never had a falling out or anything, but interests changed and it was junior high when we drifted apart. But this is about David.  He was two years older than me.  He'd occasionally play baseball or football with us and always seemed like a happy-go-lucky type.  Always fun to be around. I don't remember how or when I heard it, I suspect not long after it happened.  Perhaps a couple of years later.  I just don't remember.  Whether by draft or enlistment, David wound up in the army, was sent to Viet Nam and was shot down in a helicoptor.  I look back on it and it all seemed so distant.  Still, for all the protests, the headlines, the debate, even the change to the Draft Lottery, this turned out to be the event I kept with me.  The event that made it personal. Amidst no small controversy, the Viet Nam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 1982.  For those of you not familiar with it, the Memorial is a long granite wall containing the engraved names of those who died in the war.  No ranks, not how they died, no other information at all.  Just names.  The names aren't even alphabetized - they are arranged by unit so those who died together would have their names together. There never was an official end to the war because it never officially began.  We just had a few advisors there, then a few troops to protect the advisors and four Presidents later we were throwing billiions of dollars and thousands of lives away.

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