When it feels like every day is Saturday – as it has for me since I retired nearly five years ago – I sometimes lose track of holiday weekends. That was the case when we came here to Frankfort, Kentucky. We suddenly realized we would be here over the Memorial Day weekend and were lucky to find a campground that could accommodate us.

Sunday also happened to be Donna’s birthday. Typically we’ll go out to dinner somewhere nice on her birthday, but the nice restaurants in Frankfort were closed on Sunday. So, we took a rain check. May 27th is also my youngest daughter, Shauna’s, birthday. She’s an attorney at the Dentons Law Firm in Washington D.C. I talked to her on the phone on Sunday. She works incredible hours almost seven days a week. She was off on Sunday. We talked about the holiday weekend and she commented that it is kind of a nuisance for our lifestyle. Then she added that her office would be closed on Monday, but that just meant she had no support staff when she went in to work! So holidays can be a bit of a nuisance for her as well.

Birthday girl enjoying a Moscow Mule

I finished reading a book called The Bed I Made – a memoir of a guy that served in the Marines during the Korean war and later became a New York police officer while suffering from PTSD for  nearly 50 years. Donna started reading it over the weekend. The accounts of the conflict in Korea were appropriate for Memorial Day weekend. I started another book that I finished on Monday called 19 Minutes to Live. This one was written about the author’s tour of duty as a Cobra helicopter pilot in Vietnam.

On Monday, we hopped on the Spyder and rode down to the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It overlooks the State Capitol across the Kentucky River. The memorial contains the names of 1,103 Kentuckians that died in the war. The first two deaths occurred in 1962 and the last was recorded in 1975. The US had withdrawn from Vietnam by then and most of us remember the closing of the embassy and evacuation from Saigon. But there still was some US involvement in Vietnam and Cambodia after the fall of Saigon. The last Kentuckian killed was involved in the Mayaguez Incident – considered to be the last US battle of the Vietnam War.

The Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a large concrete pavilion. It has a sundial type gnomon in one corner. There are lines radiating out across the pavilion from the gnomon creating pie shaped slices representing the years starting with 1962. The names of the fallen are arranged in each slice showing the date they died. The shadow of gnomon falls on each name on the precise anniversary of their death every year. The length of the shadow changes with the seasons. It longest on the winter solstice and shortest on the summer solstice. This is how the shadow can fall on different names on different dates.

Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial

We met a few Vietnam Veterans visiting the memorial. One them told us a couple of stories. After the first story, I asked him he was a “lerp.” He said yes, he was attached to a Long Range Reconnaisance Patrol (LRRP) unit. Later Donna asked me what I called the guy. Lerp is the usual military nomenclature for a LRRP. I didn’t get his name.

LRRP is tough duty. These guys went into the jungle or long grass in small squads with a rifle and rucksack and all the ammo they could carry. They would spend days or even weeks alone carrying out their mission in hostile territory. Anyone they encountered would likely be the enemy with no friendly forces nearby to support them.

At the base of the gnomon, the names of Kentuckians Missing in Action are listed. The guy that was telling us stories pointed out his brother-in-law’s name there. His remains were recovered in 1995 – that’s the date listed on the memorial. The MIAs names aren’t touched by the gnomon’s shadow.

The visit to the memorial and the number of Vietnam veterans that were there was more emotional for me than I ever thought it would be. Donna felt the same. Before leaving, she hugged the guy we’d been talking with along with two others and thanked them for their service. We vowed to make an effort in the coming years to visit a memorial on this day wherever we may be at the time.

Kentucky State Capitol viewed from the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial site

It’s been hot and muggy here, but we’ve managed to dodge the brunt of the afternoon thundershowers here at Still Waters Campground. Most of the storms passed just south or east of us and we only had a few momentary showers. Today we’re pulling out and heading down to Lexington. We plan to dry-camp at Cabela’s there and stock up the pantry while we check the area out. We might not be so lucky with the weather there – the entire region looks like it’ll get thunderstorms over the next few days.

Getting out of our site is going to be a little tricky. We have several obstacles – mostly trees and a narrow roadway. We’ll take it slow and I’m confident we’ll manage it.