{"id":629,"date":"2014-08-01T06:00:18","date_gmt":"2014-08-01T13:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/?p=629"},"modified":"2014-07-30T18:27:55","modified_gmt":"2014-07-31T01:27:55","slug":"a-sad-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jajance.com\/Blog\/2014\/08\/01\/a-sad-anniversary\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sad Anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

On August 2, 1966<\/span>, Bisbee, Arizona, lost one of its brightest and best when Leonard Douglas Davis perished in the Pleiku Highlands of Vietnam. Those of you who have read my book, Second Watch, know all about Doug, as we called him in Bisbee, and about Bonnie Abney, the girl he left behind.<\/p>\n

Those of you who follow my schedule on Facebook or on my website, already know that tomorrow, Bonnie and I will make the trek down tot the\u00a0Chehalis\u00a0Veterans Museum for a day of remembrance that includes a visit from the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall. (The wall may move, but I can tell you from personal experience that visiting it is also very moving!)<\/p>\n

Michael Reagan, the Shoreline portrait artist behind the Fallen Heroes Project, will be there, too. The pencil portrait he did of Doug, copied from a photograph taken two days before Doug’s death, is a gift beyond measure to Bonnie just as the ones he’s done of literally thousands of other fallen service men and women have offered comfort to their families. Michael’s lovingly rendered individual portraits have a way of bringing those lost loved ones home in a manner I can’t begin to explain, even though I know it’s true.<\/p>\n

This event is scheduled as part of the Remains of Innocence tour, but I suspect that tomorrow’s big seller will be copies of Second Watch. Bonnie and I will be there signing books starting at 2:00 and again after our joint presentation which is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.. I’ll sign the title page, and Bonnie will sign hers–the one toward the back of the book that features a twenty-two year old Doug standing there, dressed in his fatigues, and grinning at us from across all those years.<\/p>\n

If you live somewhere in Southwestern Washington, come to the event. \u00a0It’s the least we can do to honor the men and women, living and dead, who served their country faithfully in the Vietnam War.<\/p>\n

Vietnam Veteran’s \u00a0Memorial Traveling Wall<\/a><\/p>\n

Chehalis Veteran’s Memorial Museum<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On August 2, 1966, Bisbee, Arizona, lost one of its brightest and best when Leonard Douglas Davis perished in the Pleiku Highlands of Vietnam. Those of you who have read my book, Second Watch, know all about Doug, as we called him in Bisbee, and about Bonnie Abney, the girl he left behind. Those of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[33,143,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-second-watch","category-tour-2"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t