Monuments not necessarily for those who served

Deployments to Vietnam from Fairchild normally included an overnight stop in Pearl Harbor. Some of our crew had been there before and suggested we go out to the USS Arizona. We went to the pier and rode to the site in a small open boat operated by two U.S. Navy sailors. There was nothing to see except the tops of the gun turrets, but it was our chance as American fighting men to pay homage to those who had gone before us.

I made the pilgrimage each time I deployed to or from Southeast Asia. The now familiar iconic monument had just been completed when I made my last visit. I rode out with a to...