AMARILLO,TEXAS -- As we traveled around for those three days in Washington, D.C. with the veterans, we visited all the big memorials and even got to see sights like the Washington Monument (you can see some of the shots we got from the top of it in our stories), along with Walter Reed Hospital, the Memorial to Harry Truman, the Air Force Spires and places like the Lincoln Memorial, Arlington National Cemetery and we must have passed the Jefferson Memorial a dozen times. In fact, the joke is that you can’t throw a stick without hitting a memorial in that city.
Noticeably absent was any memorial to our most recent conflict in the Gulf and Afghanistan. Some of the veterans with us on the flight served in the Middle East conflicts, and while no one is upset they don’t have a memorial, they do believe in time, one will be built.
Like Scott Woolery, who began serving in 1973 and finished his military career liberating Baghdad. He said his greatest moment in the military was seeing the Iraqi people’s faces when they realized they no longer had to live under a dictator. And since then, getting to go to D.C. with his band of brothers and sisters to pay tribute to all vets.
He thinks it’s time to start talking about a memorial and hopes one will be built soon…to honor the more than 4,000 Americans who lost their lives in the Gulf region.
