The Healing Field

On Sunday just before lunch, I got a call from a friend who had been in Salem the day before at a 9/11 memorial called the "Healing Field" at Salem Riverfront Park. She told me it had a section of flags for each of the WTC victims and another section of flags for the military personnel who have lost their lives since then, with a plaque for each of the military. She had seen Tyler's plaque and wanted to be sure we knew about it. I called Dave, who was also unaware of it. Carol Eichelberger and I drove to Salem and met Dave there. Wow. It was very sobering to look across the huge expanse with all those flags. The plaque read, "In grateful memory of Lance Corporal Tyler Troyer, United States Marine and Battalion, 2nd Marion G Company". They were selling flags there, and we asked about buying the plaque. They said they give them to the parents. We ordered one for Terri as well, since she and Michael weren't able to come up when they found out at the last minute also.
I also have been meaning to share some pictures of the flag memorial in honor of Tyler at the park behind our house. Sadly for us, the dedication ceremony happened in July while we were on vacation so we missed it. When I was at the park with Brenden last week, it really struck me how strange and sad it was to be playing with one nephew while a memorial to another nephew was visible right next to the playground. All the little kids playing there probably have no idea that Tyler once ran around and played in that very park.
I walked over this evening and took the pictures and it was getting a little dark so you can't see the red, white and blue flowers very well. Here's a close up of the plaque.

A week from today it will be 10 months since we lost Tyler.