On a cold, rainy day in November I visited the Vietnam Memorial in New Jersey. It's a stunning structure built to honor every soldier from New Jersey who gave their life during the Vietnam War. It’s a raised, circular coliseum-like structure lined with 366 black granite slabs (one for every day of the year, including leap year). Each piece of granite is etched with the names of the soldiers who died on that day.

It was powerful, humbling, sad . . . and yet there was a sense of hope that some good people are working to right the crimes of the past so the soldiers who served and gave their lives can be properly honored and remembered.