Another friend crumbles to the steaming jungle floor at the soldier’s feet, but he doesn’t have time to process the loss or grieve because of the enemy’s relentless attack.

Settled with his family in the Gila Valley more than three decades later, Rick Wellbrook, a Vietnam veteran, struggles to recall every face through the smoky haze of his memory, but sometimes the threat of the memories overpowers him and his mind refuses to allow him access.

Wellbrook, like so many veterans, carries the scars of a war that his country would like to forget, but he never will. The scars ache the most at night when sleep renders him vulnerable to nightmares of the war, and he strives to allow others to grow close to him while fearing that they, too, will fall before his eyes. The lone man sitting on a park bench is a piercing reminder for Wellbrook of so many who returned but can’t rid themselves of the guilt that they remain alive while so many others fell. These veterans are part of a brotherhood of silent suffering, and while it is difficult for them to talk about all but the most general aspects of the war, they don’t want the rest of us to forget the sacrifice made for the sake of this country.

More than 58,000 men and women were swallowed by the humid heat of the war in Vietnam, and there are still 2,000 missing in action.

Wellbrook still stands with his back to the wall in rooms full of people, and he still gets emotional when he joins the crowds of those who gather to remember.

The American Veterans Traveling Tribute, which includes a replica of the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, D.C., arrived in Safford on Saturday escorted by more than 400 motorcycles, including 100 members of the Patriot Guard, and 33 other vehicles. Since the wall was set up at Firth Park, there have been roll calls for those from Arizona who died on particular dates and flag raisings and retirements by local color guard organizations. Flowers, flags and wreaths wave at the bottom of the glassy wall, and local residents visit at all hours of the day to remind themselves and their children about the debt we owe.

Parents, it is important to take your children to this memorial, which will be here until April 6.

If this country doesn’t remember the veterans of all of its wars, it will find itself crumpling at the feet of its own inattention.

We are all responsible for reminding the next generation.

We must all remember.