Remembering Fallen Fathers Cleaning Vietnam Memorial Wall

A wash to honor fathers' sacrifice: Families gather for a cleaning of the wall 
Stars and Stripes
By Heath Druzin
Published: June 20, 2015

WASHINGTON — For years, Patty Lee didn’t speak about her father; her mother never discussed him with her six children.

But Sgt. 1st Class Delbert C. Totty hadn’t done anything wrong. The unspoken truth was that he was killed in action in Vietnam when Lee was 12 years old.

“We all grew up in silence,” Lee said of a generation of children whose fathers died in a war many wanted to forget. “We didn’t talk about Vietnam, we didn’t talk about our fathers.”

It’s difficult to fathom in this age of solemn homages to troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and warm welcomes when they come home safely, but for the children of Vietnam veterans, the fate of their fathers was often a dark secret.

Lee, now 60, didn’t have a chance to grieve for 25 years until 1992, when a new group, Sons and Daughters in Touch, organized a gathering at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., for children of troops lost in the war. For many like Lee it was the first time they met others with similar stories — the first time they didn’t feel alone.
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A wash that helps close wounds of war at the Vietnam Memorial Wall
Stars and Stripes
Published on Jun 20, 2015
In honor of Father’s Day, children, grandchildren, friends and families of U.S. troops who died as a result of their involvement in the Vietnam War, met early Saturday, June 20, 2015, to help wash the Wall in Washington, D.C., that honors some 58,000 fallen Vietnam veterans.
By Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes