From: USMCmeadeMCL@aol.com
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2001 16:45:53 EDT
Subject: Fwd: [usna60-17] Memorial
To: mcl@talklist.com
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I'm sure that most of you have seen the story in the last several days about the polish the Marine emblem receives at the Vietnam Memorial.  A friend who is a graduate of the Naval Academy sent the following comments from USNA and USMA graduates regarding the story..............

USNA classmates,

The following letter comes from West Point class of '59.  I was never a Marine but thank God for the USMC and their spirit.  Does anyone have some Brasso for the Navy Seal?

Larry

Dear Classmates,

Were I still in the Washington, DC area, I would like to take along a can of Brasso (or whatever else would be required to do the job) and shine the Army Seal at the base of the flagpole at the Vietnam War Memorial (The Wall) in order that at least the word "NEVER" could be omitted from the following email message I received last week:

"Here is a little known fact.  At the Vietnam War Memorial (The
Wall) sets a flag pole and at it's base are the seals of all the services:  Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard.  Every day throughout the entire year a group from Marine Barracks, Eight & I, Washington, D. C. march to the flag and polish the Marine Corps Emblem.  The other services have NEVER touched theirs."

A lot of good Marines lost their lives in Vietnam.  So did a lot of the Army's GIs, our classmates among them.  Congratulations to the Marines for honoring their dead comrades in this way.  I am sure that the symbolism of their ongoing respect is not lost on the visiting public, nor is the added respect their faithful actions have given their dead by default.

 Dick Jasper, E-2 '59