If you were to drive north of Santa Fe, NM to Taos, out of the desert through the pine-covered hills further northeast, you would come to a 45-mile scenic loop in the rolling plains just south of the Colorado border. This loop is known in tourist guide books (such as Lonely Planet) as the Enchanted Circle.
The route is aptly named.
As you drive directly east out of Taos along the Route 38 loop, you enter the Moreno Valley at a little town called Angel Fire.
The valley is wide and sweeping, like something out of Lonesome Dove. The kind of green, rolling prairie with a meandering, fast-moving, clean stream running through it that promises fertile ground and ample grazing. Exactly the spot, if you were pioneering west, where you would stop to catch your breath, water your horses and oxen, and decide that you’d arrived home.
It is here, overlooking some of the prettiest country you’ve ever seen, that Dr. Victor Westphall, mourning the death of his son, US Marine David Westphall, in Vietnam, established a Vietnam Veterans Memorial nine years prior to the one in Washington, D.C.
Like the Washington memorial, this one is understated. Sitting among a few large pines, is a small amphitheater set into the hillside, with two, large, wing-like structures holding it in a sheltered embrace.
A couple of unobtrusive bronze plaques tell of the death of David Westphall and his small contingent of Marines in a firefight with Vietcong soldiers, and of Victor’s establishing of this memorial for all the soldiers who didn’t make it home.
Like the Washington memorial, it is a somber place. The few visitors walk slowly among the stepping-stones into which are carved the names of the fallen. The only sounds are of the birds, and the wind as it blows down through the valley.
Memorial Day is the day we set aside to honor those who sacrificed their lives for this nation in too many wars.
It is important that we consider the devotion to country held by those who died far from home in the service to this homeland. It is important that we consider the grieving of family and friends who would trade everything for that loved-one to be still among them.
Though we shall never forget these selfless individuals, as Victor Westphall didn’t forget his beloved son, it should be in our hearts and minds to seek understanding among the world’s communities, so that we not use war to solve our differences again and again.
There should ever be a prayer on our lips that those who lead our nation be ever mindful of the preciousness of our sons and daughters, that we never need to erect memorials to them ever again.
On this Memorial Day, be thankful for your service men and women, those who made it home to the bosom of family, and those who didn’t.
All of our lives are richer for their sacrifice.
Well said, thank you.
Yes, thank you. This is beautifully written. If I get to New Mexico, and I expect to do so again,, I will want to look for The Enchanted Circle.