IN MEMORY OF RAY AND JIMMY

You won't find the names of Ray Clifford nor Jimmy Lietz on The Wall. The Vietnam War Memorial preserves the names and helps keep alive the memories of over 58,000 Americans who gave their lives in service to our country.

I never did get to visit The Wall. I did, however, have the opportunity to see a replica of it here in Phoenix some twenty years ago. The magnitude of panel after panel of names --- each representing one of the thousands of mostly young men who never made it home alive --- is overwhelming. Words can not adequately describe what it feels like to see it. To touch it. To trace the name of a family member or friend who sacrificed all.

I immediately searched out and found the name of my childhood friend, Robert Thomas "Bobby" Taylor. (See post below.) After spending time praying and reflecting by Bobby's place on the Wall --- seemingly a million miles and years away from Bobby's Rollaway, where we used to rent skates as teenagers and laugh at one another when one of our group of friends fell --- I returned to the reception desk and searched for names of other GI's who I met in Vietnam or who I had befriended during boot camp. I looked for those who I knew or felt had the greatest chance of having their names inscribed on it. Thank GOD I found no others but, I'm quite sure that if I knew where to look, familiar names would have brought back familiar memories.

Memories and photos are all that remain of Ray Clifford and Jimmy Lietz. They were two of the handful of Vietnam vets who I met while living in Mexico. Ray, a paraplegic, was a Navy corpsman who was shot in the back while attending to wounded Marines on the battlefield. Jimmy served in the Army and became a quadriplegic when the Armored Personnel Carrier he was in got hit.

Ray Clifford was already discharged from the Hines VA Hospital in Chicago and living in Guadalajara while I was still in Vietnam. Jimmy Lietz left Walter Reed Army Hospital and showed up at Villa del Sol (probably the "Villa Dulce" as (mis)portrayed in the movie Born on the 4th of July) at about the same time as I began my two year rehab stint. We became close friends in Guadalajara and afterward, until Jimmy passed away in 1994 and Ray in 2000 --- each from kidney problems brought on by being Spinal Cord Injured.

I mention Ray and Jimmy, not because I believe that their names also belong on the Wall --- in which case it would have to have many more panels to represent and honor those whose lives were shortened by battlefield injuries and illness --- but to pay tribute to just two of many veterans --- paralyzed wheelchair users --- who continued to serve other veterans and the Mexican community which welcomed them during the time that they lived in Mexico.

I could hardly list the number of para and quad friends who I met in Guadalajara, Mexico who are no longer with us. But I will be thinking and praying for them, as I will for Bobby Taylor, my parents and other family members and friends.

May they rest in peace.............