VIETNAM VETERANS OF OREGON LIVING MEMORIAL
"remember us. so long as we are not forgotten, we do not die"
A SPIRAL OF LIFE
VIETNAM VETERANS OF OREGON
LIVING MEMORIAL
WHO CAME UP WITH THE DESIGN?
(by Jud Blakely)
Simple...yet...profound. The symbol of the Memorial is a spiral that seeks to capture the passage of life from birth to death...no matter the age a life ends and the soul moves on. I was not present at the lunch (four decades ago in Portland) when the spiral was sketched out.
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There was a small handful of highly motivated vets at this casual lunch early in developing the vision of what a memorial should consist of and convey. No formal blueprint had begun to take shape; it was more a vague but energizing vision in search of a clear concept.
Mike Goldade told me about a lunch in 1983 (or '84) where the spiral "layout" of the Memorial took shape. Jerome Jackson, a former Army medic, drew it out on a napkin. If that napkin still exists, no one has a clue where. I imagine it looked something like the above...
When I told Mike that I hadn't heard Jerome's name before, he told me Jackson was a great guy and I would've really liked him. Note: being rated "a great guy" is the highest rating males in our age cohort can be given. There is no higher status...and it's earned over time.
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Jerome was among the dedicated group of vets who washed cars in the early days of fund-raising for the Memorial. I wish I knew how many cars they washed because the number would be one more yardstick of how dedicated they were. Great Guys, all of them. Brothers.
