Stars and Stripes: Families have left cremated remains at the Vietnam Wall for decades. Now officials want them to stop.
WASHINGTON — When Vietnam veteran Gordon J. Castro died six years ago, his older brother, Leon, had him cremated and placed his remains in a specially inscribed, stainless-steel box.
He glued on Gordon's Purple Heart medal, his silver and blue Combat Infantryman Badge and a 1st Cavalry Division insignia.
Then he got into his Ford pickup, put the box on the passenger seat and drove from Corpus Christi, Texas to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., to fulfill his brother's wish that he be laid to rest at the Wall.
It was hard to leave him so far from home, Leon Castro said, but Gordon had said he "left the better part of himself" in Vietnam.
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WNU Editor: For me .... this is a tough one. My head says no .... do not do this. My heart says yes .... let families fulfill their loved one's wishes, and after placing their remains at the memorial have the Park authority treat the remains with respect by placing it somewhere else.
WNU,
ReplyDelete" let families fulfill their loved one's wishes, and after placing their remains at the memorial have the Park authority treat the remains with respect by placing it somewhere else."
This would be as it should be, as "in country" or at the "wall",
no one who went there expected to stay there.