Enjoy your long weekend off, summer session students, and sleep late. Although Duke will cancel classes for Memorial Day this year (a first), there's nothing remotely patriotic scheduled on campus: Monday's only events include a "Barkley L. Hendricks: Birth of the Cool" show at the Nasher and "Literacy through Photography: An Exhibit of Pictures and Writing."
Oh, if you're an employee, there's a seminar by the AIG insurance company, which wants your retirement money.
Indeed, it hardly seems possible that this level of neglect is would be tolerated at a place like Duke, which has so much to honor. Scores of our fellow alumni have given their lives for this country, and hundreds of proud veterans pass through the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (which is tied to our campus) each week.
To boot, we have an entire cadre of administrators who insist they care deeply about Duke's fallen heroes. That, we've discovered, is a conclusion unsupported by their actions.
Consider, for example, the sad state of our tribute to alumni killed in battle, which Kristin discussed in a column, "A Few Good Men," last November.
The memorial we have now-a low stone wall sandwiched between the Chapel and Divinity School-stands in little more than an airshaft between tall buildings, with the Westbrook and Goodson additions looming over it. When built decades ago, before the encroachment of the divinity school, the wall topped a grassy knoll bordered by tall pines, a hideaway where friends and family could find solace.
Finally dedicated in September 1993 in a ceremony that not even The Chronicle covered, the wall was designed to "bear the names of those students killed in World War II and subsequent wars." Today it still does not bear the name of a single soldier killed in Korea, Vietnam or the Gulf Wars.
Moreover, in the 15 years since the wall's dedication, Duke has re-sold Alumni Memorial Gymnasium, which honored fallen World War I soldiers, to new donors; it's now named the Keith and Brenda Brodie Recreation Center.
Right after Kristin's November column, we confronted Executive Vice President Tallman Trask, whose responsibility encompasses buildings and grounds, about the neglect of veterans' issues. With great economy of words and no indication of interest, Trask punted the inquiry to Executive Director of Alumni Affairs Sterly Wilder.
In December she told us, "We are in the process of working on this right now -- it is just in the beginning stages but more to follow in the next few weeks. Thanks for your interest."
After contacting Wilder again last week, which is to say after five months, we're unsure if anything has been accomplished. Wilder first said a "committee" was working on the memorial. Asked for details, she relabeled the effort to a "group." Pressed for specifics about the group's composition and selection, she refused to divulge members' identities. Later, Executive Director of Alumni and Development Communications Peter Vaughn clarified that "at least" two students had come forth and met with Wilder several times, but he, too, declined to reveal their identities until well after our deadline.
Meanwhile, Wilder insists she's been busy with the Pentagon confirming identities of alums killed in battle. However, she would tell us nothing about that process, not even the military office involved. And Vaughn, asked to tell us how many names have been confirmed by the Pentagon and how many remain pending, says he does not know if a single name has been submitted yet.
It would seem highly appropriate for President Brodhead to end the waffling forthwith and expand the "group" with people who care about the issue and whose work will be transparent. Perhaps the family of Duke's first Iraq casualty, Marine 1st Lt. Matt Lynch Trinity '01, who swam and played baseball. Or the family of Sgt. Jimmy Regan Trinity '02, the lacrosse player who joined the Army Rangers. From the alumni we would suggest Gen. Walter Boomer Trinity '60, retired Commandant of the Marine Corps.
This is more than a theoretical issue for Ed. The Vietnam War took a classmate, next door neighbor in the dorms and eternal friend.
Charles G. Mason '64, known as Buddy, was in Naval ROTC at Duke; he wore his uniform with pride at a time when many were growing wary of the military. At graduation he received a commission in the Marine Corps and was sent to the city of Hue in Vietnam. It's hard to fathom Buddy amid the insane violence of war, transported from the grace of our campus to slogging in a jungle.
February 24, 1967. Fellow Marines in nearby Phu Bai village were pinned down by withering fire, taking heavy casualties. The weather hampered the flow of reinforcements and ammo, but First Lieutenant Mason tried to break through in a Medivac helicopter. To rescue the wounded. To retrieve the dead.
His copter took bullets in the fuselage, burst into flames and fell to earth in pieces. His remains are now at Arlington National Cemetery.
Buddy Mason's survivors included his wife Lynelle and their 22-month-old daughter Lois. Six months after Buddy's death, his wife gave birth to his son Charles.
Buddy Mason is just one of the sons of Duke who made the supreme sacrifice for our nation, heroes whom our University ignores this Memorial Day.
Kristin Butler Trinity '08 will attend Ohio State Law School. Ed Rickards Trinity '63 and Law '66, is a former editor of The Chronicle and lives in New York City. They will collaborate on a weekly column starting in August.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.