Vietnam Veterans Candlelite Vigil @Punchbowl

As I mentioned earlier, Quinn had 3 ceremonies to be in this weekend, each one was a joint services color-guard (each service represented). Two of the ceremonies were open to the public so I was able to tag along and serve as "unofficial photographer."

Sunday evening was the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Service at the Punchbowl Cemetery. It was quite an event, the color-guard was suppose to have stands to place their flags in, unfortunately those seemed to have been misplaced so they had to stand in front of the ceremony for the whole hour and fifteen minutes. We had great speakers- a Vietnamese refugee who holds the US Armed Forces in the highest regards for "saving her family and saving her people from communism." Then Tammy Duckworth an Iraq veteran who lost both legs & partial use of her arm due to a helicopter crash (she managed to land safe enough that the passengers were unharmed), spoke and it was quite riveting... you can see more about the ceremony here: KHON 2 News: Vietnam Vigil

I also never knew that TAPS had lyrics... when the time came for the song to be played a woman sang it instead, here are the words if you are like me:

Day is done, gone the sun
From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky
All is well, safely rest
God is nigh.

Fading light dims the sight
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright
From afar, drawing nigh
Falls the night.

Thanks and praise for our days
Neath the sun, neath the stars, neath the sky
As we go, this we know
God is nigh.

Some photos I took at the event: