Jan Scruggs was the man who conceived the VietnamVeterans Memorial. Late one night in 1979 he was unable to sleep thinking of friends lost during the Vietnam War. He was suddenly struck by the realization that no one knew the names of these men other than himself. He resolved to build a memorial listing the names of every person that was killed. After years of effort on his part and that of many others, the memorial was finally completed in 1982. Its most distinctive feature has always been the ‘Wall,’ with a complete listing of the names of over 58,000 men and women killed in Vietnam, in chronological order of death.
On April 16,2014 I visited the Wall while on the last Honor Flight from Myrtle Beach. I had time to locate the name of one of my best friends from long ago, Judd Spainhour. His name appears in the center of the photo above. It is a name, along with others, that I will never forget. It is a name that succeeding generations of his family will never forget. We know from Scripture that it is also a name God will remember forever. On this Memorial Day, I pray that our nation will not forget Judd Spainhour and the other gallant men and women who have served our nation—especially, those who never came home.
Before I was born the Lord called me; from my birth he has made mention of my name. ~Isaiah 49:1
He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. ~John 10:3
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