WASHINGTON — On a quiet Sunday morning in Washington, the sound of sponges scrubbing granite echoed softly through the National Mall as families gathered to honor the fallen. Instead of breakfast in bed or bouquets of flowers, dozens of people—many of them children with their mothers—spent Mother’s Day at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, carefully washing the names of more than 58,000 U.S. service members who never made it home. It was an act of remembrance, of gratitude, and for many, a lesson in the cost of sacrifice.
Eight-year-old Duke Walker spent this Mother’s Day with a bucket, sponge and a mission.
“I don’t really like to wash stuff,” Duke said. “But I like washing this now.”…