agreed, I went to see the memorial in DC last saturday to find my uncles name he was KIA 40 years ago next week, it was incredible, there were all these pictures and notes left from other soliders some just said things like “thank you tom” there was also a marine color gaurd that played taps and a flyover by a ch 53 sea stallion a ch 64 and an osprey, it was emotional to say the least, i am going to need to go back and spend a week to see the smithsonian etc.
I was born in 64, and as a child, one of my neighbors was a former helicopter pilot in Vietnam. Me and my brother were always fascinated by things that flew, and we'd try to get him to talk about his glorious flying days in Vietnam, sometimes to the point of pestering him, but he'd always gently say "I'm sorry boys, but I just can't talk about it..." All we knew was that he flew a helicopter in Vietnam, and that was enough to make him a hero to us.