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Vietnam Wall at 25

The Wall stands between the girl and a War.

The girl presses her fingers against the granite. Her fingers run along the names cut into the black stone.

"That is Nana's brother," a man is explaining to the girl.

"But how did he get inside the wall?" the girl asks.

Her question hangs near the Wall. It is an innocent question, the kind of question the Wall must have heard often since its dedication 25 years ago next week. Simple questions: Why him? Why me? Where is he? People sliding their fingers along its spine, over the etchings of diamonds that signify the dead and crosses that signify the missing. Fingers traveling over the Nicholases, Davids, Floyds, Rogers, Jesses -- more than 58,000 names.
Read entire article at WaPo