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"MY
JOURNEY TO THE WALL
In
1968 after attending Junior College for a year I decided it was
time for me to do my duty as an American by serving in one of
the branches of the military. Not wanting to join and serve a 4
year hitch, I decided to let the draft take its' course. I
dropped out of college and waited for the "Letter,"
and after many months it finally came. Soon after that came the
physical and finally the induction into the U.S. Army in August
of 1969. Just before the end of A.I.T. for field artillery, I
received initial orders for Viet Nam. At the time I was mentally
prepared to go. To my good fortune someone above was looking out
for me and my final orders came down for Germany. Many of my
friends received orders for Nam while I spent 20 months in
Germany in an 8 inch Howitzer Special Weapons unit. It was
fantastic duty compared to what the guys in Nam were
experiencing and at times I felt a little guilty because we had
it so good. Just 6 months prior to the end of my tour, several
of my buddies got levied to Nam for the remainder of their tour.
Some of us stayed in touch but I always wondered what happened
to the others. At the end of my two years I was ready to get
back to the "World" and continue my education.
Soon after the time I went back to school someone came around
selling "POW-MIA" bracelets. Being a veteran and
knowing what was going with the "POW-MIA's" I wanted
to support the cause. When I bought my bracelet, I read the name
San D Francisco and immediately thought it was bogus, because
there couldn't be anybody named San D Francisco. I didn't wear
my bracelet very much and eventually lost it in one of my many
moves over the years.
As time went on and I saw that our government had forgotten our
brothers, I started looking at the web sites for
"POW-MIA's" to find out about my buddies from Germany.
Luckily I did not find any of their names listed among the
missing. Just for the heck of it I typed in the name of San D
Francisco. To my surprise it came up and I read the details of
his final mission.
This past October my work carried me to Gettysburg, Pa. On a
weekend prior to Thanksgiving a coworker (Drew), and I decided
to go to Washington D.C. to see the sights. I wanted to visit
The Wall to honor my brothers and brought a pencil and paper to
get a rubbing of San D Francisco's name. When we arrived we
walked from the east to the west and, as everyone knows who has
been there, it is a very emotional walk. On the west end we
found the directories and looked up San D Francisco's name. Drew
noticed that Francisco was from Burbank, WA, and said that he
lived close to Burbank and knew someone there. We then noted the
panel numbers and made our way back to the panel with his name.
For many of us there is nothing that can describe all the
emotions that come about from the retrieving of a name on The
Wall.
When we had finished the rubbing we started toward the Lincoln
Memorial, stopping to see the bronze memorial of the three
soldiers and the Vietnam Women's Memorial. As we exited the Wall
area we came upon the kiosks for the "POW-MIA's" where
I could purchase some stickers and patches. We stopped at the
first one to see what he had and noticed the bracelets. I asked
if he had any for the Air Force from the state of Washington. He
did a very thorough search and found nothing. I then asked about
Mississippi and New Mexico, and again nothing, so I purchased
some of his stickers and patches. We continued to the next booth
when I suddenly remembered another patch the guy in the first
booth had that I wanted to buy, so we went back. As I was paying
for it he asked, "Weren't you asking for Washington state
bracelets?" I said yes and he handed me a bracelet in a bag
he said he had found buried in a different slot. I raised it to
read the name and 30 years of held back emotions came flooding
out as I read the name MAJ SAN D FRANCISCO. Drew read the name
at the same time and said in amazement "Ted, that's the
name you were looking for!" Upon hearing this, the brother
soldier in the booth let out an emotional groan and told us it
was the third time that had happened that day. It's very hard to
describe all the emotions I felt walking away that second time,
but they did not end there. That night, back in my motel room I
was reading a write-up on the Major and the bracelet when the
emotional dam burst again. The Major became M.I.A. 11-25-68. My
son was born 11-25-87.
THEY WILL NOT BE FORGOTTEN
Ted Sims"
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