Memorial Day, Brasso, JPAC and Comrades

Polishing the Brass

Army Sgt. Caleb Barrieau plans to honor on Monday -- Memorial Day -- the 58,195 fallen troops whose names are inscribed on the Vietnam Memorial the same way he has every weekend for the past nine weeks - with a can of Brasso and a polishing rag.

Shortly after he transferred from the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., for training at the Defense Information School at Fort Meade, Md., he went on a run on the Washington Mall. He came upon the flagpole at the Vietnam Memorial and noticed a young Marine polishing the Marine Corps emblem at the base of the flag pole.

The Marine emblem gleamed. But the 26-year-old Barrieau noticed the Army seal was tarnished. He took a silent vow to ensure it, too, gleamed. Every Sunday he puts on his fatigues, and shows up at the Vietnam Memorial with his can of Brasso and cleaning rag to buff and shine.

At first, Barrieau said he just polished the Army emblem. But then he realized that to fully accomplish his mission he needed to polish the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard and Marine emblems, too -- a task he said takes about two hours.

I found out about Barrieau from a young sailor I mentor, Joe Mancinik, who will enter his junior year at The George Washington University this fall. Joe came across Barrieau while walking around the Vietnam Memorial a couple of weeks ago, saw what he was doing, borrowed a rag and started polishing the Navy emblem. He plans to keep burnishing on a regular basis, too.

This weekend, Washington will be replete with all kinds of formal and grand commemorations to honor those who have fallen in battle. But, in my opinion, none will equal the ongoing commemoration performed by Kaleb and Joe with their cans of Brasso and polishing rags.

Searching for the Fallen In Southeast Asia

While much of America views Memorial Day as nothing more than a three-day holiday, the folks at the Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command (JPAC) based in Honolulu, are well aware of the true meaning of the day.

While their fellow citizens play, teams from JPAC will work to recover the remains of fallen troops from the Korean and Vietnam wars at sites scattered around Southeast Asia. Air Force Lt. Col. Wayne Perry, a JPAC spokesman, told me that a 12-person team from the command is working this weekend in South Korea, a 51-person team is in Laos and a team of 87 people are in Vietnam.

Though the wars in those countries are long over, the JPAC mission has risks. On April 7, 2007, a commercial Russian M-17 helicopter carrying a seven-person team from a JPAC predecessor organization, Joint Task Force-Full Accounting, crashed. All seven died, and we all should remember them on this Memorial Day. They are:

Army Lt. Col. Rennie Cory Jr.

Army Lt. Col. George Martin

Air Force Maj. Charles Lewis

Air Force Msgt. Steven Moser

Navy Corpsman Pedro Gonzalez

Army Sgt. First Class Tommy (cq) Murphy

Air Force Tsgt. Robert Flynn

My Honor Role

This is the time of year to honor family and friends who have served. All my comrades from 2nd Battalion, 9th Marines and 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Vietnam 1965/1966:

My father, Walter Brewin

Army Air Corps

WW II

Okinawa and the Philippines

My father-in-law, William Suess

Tin Can Sailor

WW II

Atlantic and Pacific

Lewis B. Puller Jr.

Friend and fellow Marine

Who touched me with his grace.

Marine Maj. Cornelius Ram

The best company commander any Marine could ever have.

Leon Daniel

Marine Korean War Veteran

UPI bureau chief in Saigon on the last day of the war

Friend, mentor and inspiration

And those who still serve:

Army Lt. Col. George Wright and Navy. Capt. David Wray

They help me with perspective.