Closure at the Wall In the novel In Country, Bobbie Ann Mason writes about a young woman and her uncle searching to heal their scars caused by the Vietnam War. Sam Hughes, the young woman and Emmett Smith, her uncle, travel to Washington D.C. in the summer of 1984. Their destination is the Vietnam Veterans Memorial or the Wall, possibly one of the nation's most dramatic monuments. Some come to the Wall in dedication, while others need to find answers or lay something to rest; Sam and Emmett venture there for the latter. Emmett Smith returned from the war, but it never really ended for him. He didn't come home with gun shot wounds or li