Veteran Declares Independence from Vietnam Memories
SHADELAND, Ind. (AP) - The man sat, slump-shouldered, on an old wooden park bench.
Summer has become a montage of family reunions and fresh watermelon for many people, but Sonny Bower had other things on his mind that day. He was lost in the steamy jungles of Vietnam-jungles he has never been able to leave behind for long, even on his quiet 95-acre farm where lie has lived for 22 years with his third wife. Cindy, and the 15 children the two have between them.
"Vietnam was like a school course where you learned along the way. Only, if you didn't get something in this class, you died," said Bower, who had enlisted for a year of duty in Vietnam, serving as a truck driver and soldier in the Army.
He returned home completely different from the innocent youth who left a year earlier. And for years, Bower tried to run from the shadows and nightmares that dogged him. He even destroyed his military medals in his fight to forget the terrors.
Unable to work because of mental stress, he finally decided it was time to face his past and build a bridge back to the war. So he got out hammer and nails. Two years later, with the help of community members, his memorial is almost finished.
Waving bamboo stalks and small American flags guard the entrance to three flags flying above a sand-colored wooden cross, standing in remembrance of those left behind in 1975 after the last planes had flown home. Bower's wife said one of these flags brought state Rep. Sheila Klinker out to the memorial. "We couldn't find an Indiana flag," Cindy said. "We called Sheila, and she drove out here in a rainstorm last year and handed Sonny the flag. That meant a lot to us."
Klinker a Lafayette Democrat spoke of the importance of Bower's project.
"I thought it was interesting that he felt so strongly about building the memorial. The least I could do was take him a flag," said Klinker, who was surprised at the enormous effort Bower put into the memorial. "I've taken a lot of Indiana flags to people. But that was the most unusual request I've had, and the most heartfelt."
Bower said his memorial will be complete and his mind at ease when nameplates are mounted on the wooden fence that stands behind the Cross.
"I needed to build the remembrance so I know I'm not forgetting all those men and women," Bower said, his voice breaking.
The plaque that will hang above the cross reads: "How soon some people forget - this is for you, for I have not forgotten."
