Soldierstone Southeast Asia Veterans Memorial - Colorado - 10,000+ feet

photos by Randy Bishop, 8/2/2014, 8/14/2018, 8/25/2018
(Click on thumbnails for larger images.)

At the site.

north side - SACRIFICE

east side - HONOR

south side - VALOR

west side - COURAGE

"Quote stones" found around the memorial.
Photos taken 8/2/2014, 8/14&25/2018, and from U.S. Forest Service handout.
Translations from U.S. Forest Service handout. .

As the fallen leaves of autumn in unregimented ranks, countless unremembered soldiers rest eternally. Far Cry, Laos 1960-1975 (Lao) - #1

Better to die in honor, Than live in disgrace. Vietnamese Proverb (Vietnamese) - #2

Who could say that Heaven is blind? Vietnamese Proverb (Vietnamese) - #3

Winds howl and howl, At ghosts of those war has killed, On soldiers faces shines the stalking moon, O men, alive or dead, has anyone portrayed your faces or invoked your souls? Song of a soldier's wife (Vietnamese) - #4

In front of the snake, Behind the tiger. Montagnard Saying (Bahnar) (photo by USFS) - #5

Although we have at times been strong, At times weak, We have at no times lacked heroes. Heroes (Vietnamese) - #6

Let us once again be what we were, Something that no longer exists, And will never return. The Montagnard (Montagnard) - #7

When buffaloes fight, It is the grass that suffers. Lao Proverb (Lao) - #8

The gnat lives as best it can on what nature provides. But how can a great white elephant be interested in a little bamboo shoot like me? White Elephant... Lao Song Poem (Lao) - #9

Anguished but not angry, I arrive in this country without brothers or sisters, like a bewildered, lost dog. White Hmong, Laos, Ban Vinai, Thailand 1980 (Hmong) - #10

Sho, hey! You have left for good. You come to the mountain in the burning sky, the mountain wide open to the winds where the wild wind howls. The Hmong, Kr'ua Ke (Hmong) (photo by USFS) - #11

When dreams and wishes fail and don't come true, they turn to stones and just sit there, stock-still. They weigh so heavy on my brain, my heart, I want to shrug them off but often can't. Flowers from Hell (Vietnamese)- #12

Those who have gone to the Buddha as refuge, Will not go the realms of deprivation. On abandoning the human body, They will fill the company of the Gods. A Refuge in Awakening, RTA...Laos (Pali)- #13

A people who do not weigh heavy, In the palm of the Mekong; A people who have, as fortresses, Only temples in ruins; Who have, for an army, Only their Thought and Faith. Cambodia 1971 (Cambodia)- #14

If my disciples were silenced, the stones themselves would cry out. Luke 19:40, Cambodia 1975... (Khmer) - #15

Sacrifice the plum tree for the plum tree. The Sacrifice...Stratagem Eleven (Chinese) - #16

To all who served. 20th Indian Division, Vietnam 1945 (Hindi) - #17

...Dying, so that honor at least may be saved... Dien Bien Phu 1954 (French) - #18

(Photo not available.) You soldiers who sleep under the earth, So far away, Whose flowing blood leaves so much regret, Tell them only, "It's our captain, Who remembers us, and counts his dead." (French) - #19

(Photo not available.) Words were scrawled in the blood of the stone, They spoke of the way of knowledge and of dying. (French) - #20

It's a bullet, a bullet, Hear it ricochet by your ear, It's beckoning war. The Gurkhas, Vietnam 1945 (Nepalese) - #21

I go to a lonely grave across the sea. A lonely grave...Died...for France, Indochina 1945-46 (Japanese) - #22

...And you will hear the wailing of the wounded, And the whisper of death. Operation Brotherhood 1953, PHILCAGV 1964-1970 (Phillipines) - #23

A friend says at the edge of a grave, Something of a prayer. Two pieces of wood in the form of a cross, a name. Does it matter if the name is not the right name? It is a Legionnaire. (French) - #24

"Left behind in the Tonkin Delta." "Died for France?" "Yes, died for France." "Theatre de Tassigny," 1950-54 (English/German) - #25

My regiment is my home, my mother I have never known, my father fell early on in the field, I am alone in the world. (German) - #26

Not a Mass will be sung then, Not a Kaddish will be said, Nothing sung, and nothing spoken, On the day when I am dead. Indochina, 1946-54 (German) - #27

Rings out - Move forward! - For France! For Morocco! ...in Indochina, 1946-54 (Arabic, French Moroccan) - #28

We come from the Sultan, May God have mercy on our souls. Tiralleurs Marocains, Indochina 1946-50 (Arabic) - #29

Every soul will know the taste of Death. L'Armeed D' Afrique, Indochina 1946-54 (Arabic) - #30

And how can men die better, Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of their fathers, And the temples of their Gods? The Hmong, Kr'ua Ke (English, Hmong) - #31a

And how can men die better, Than facing fearful odds, For the ashes of their fathers, And the temples of their Gods? (English) - #31b

They were from Ouaga, Conakry and Dakar, Nigeria, Mali and the Ivory Coast. They were soldiers of France of yesteryear. Who can close his door to one of their children? Tirailleurs Senegalais, Indochina 1946-54 (French) - #32

It is written. L'Arimee D' Afrique, Indochina 1946-54 (Arabic) - #33

We know not where we go, Leaves blown, scattered, though fallen from the same tree, By the first winds of autumn. ROKA, Vietnam 1964-1971 (Korean) - #34

It is a worthy thing to fight for one's freedom; it is another sight finer to fight for another man's. (English) - #35

Still in death lies Everyone. And the Battle's Lost. (English) - #36