When former prisoner of war Neil Black first visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., he was overcome with anxiety and he turned back.

It was shortly after the 1982 dedication of the black granite wall, which lists the names of the more than 58,000 Americans killed in Vietnam, and about a decade after Black’s release from what the POWs had named the Hanoi Hilton.

“I got teary eyed,” said Black, 80, of Carlsbad, California. “I don’t normally do that but I couldn’t help myself."

In April, 50 years after the fall of Saigon , Black returned on a formal trip celebrating veterans. By then he had been to the memorial several times, but this trip stood out for the spirituality he felt, for the camaraderie among the veterans and the cheers from onlookers.

He was able to pla

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