Woman Dedicated 4 Years To Finding Photos of Over 1,400 Vietnam Fallen

Woman's search for photos of those killed in Vietnam lands in Colorado Springs
The Gazette
By Ellie Cole, Special to The Gazette
Updated: July 15, 2015

"It is a very important project," Hoehn said. "Putting a face with a name changes the whole dynamic of the Vietnam War. When you see a face, it makes the person real."

It has been a journey of more than 1,400 photos and four years of Janna Hoehn's life.

"I'm really proud of that," Hoehn said.

Hoehn is a volunteer for the Faces Never Forgotten, a program committed to finding photos of each fallen Vietnam veteran to place on the Wall of Faces at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall site. Hoehn first visited this spot in Washington, D.C., about six years ago and stared at the wall with tears running down her face. She didn't know anyone personally who had died in Vietnam, but there were thousands who had and many of them didn't have a photo to link with a name at the wall.

Hoehn took to nine states to support the effort of finding photos, and she has landed on El Paso County in search of photos for 12 area men who died in the war.

"Vietnam was my generation's war," she said. "It was every day of my high school years."

Hoehn searches newspaper articles to help her find missing photos. She is one of a handful of volunteers working on the project.
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Remembering Fallen Fathers Cleaning Vietnam Memorial Wall

A wash to honor fathers' sacrifice: Families gather for a cleaning of the wall 
Stars and Stripes
By Heath Druzin
Published: June 20, 2015

WASHINGTON — For years, Patty Lee didn’t speak about her father; her mother never discussed him with her six children.

But Sgt. 1st Class Delbert C. Totty hadn’t done anything wrong. The unspoken truth was that he was killed in action in Vietnam when Lee was 12 years old.

“We all grew up in silence,” Lee said of a generation of children whose fathers died in a war many wanted to forget. “We didn’t talk about Vietnam, we didn’t talk about our fathers.”

It’s difficult to fathom in this age of solemn homages to troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan and warm welcomes when they come home safely, but for the children of Vietnam veterans, the fate of their fathers was often a dark secret.

Lee, now 60, didn’t have a chance to grieve for 25 years until 1992, when a new group, Sons and Daughters in Touch, organized a gathering at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., for children of troops lost in the war. For many like Lee it was the first time they met others with similar stories — the first time they didn’t feel alone.
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A wash that helps close wounds of war at the Vietnam Memorial Wall
Stars and Stripes
Published on Jun 20, 2015
In honor of Father’s Day, children, grandchildren, friends and families of U.S. troops who died as a result of their involvement in the Vietnam War, met early Saturday, June 20, 2015, to help wash the Wall in Washington, D.C., that honors some 58,000 fallen Vietnam veterans.
By Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes

Vietnam 74 Lost Lives USS Frank E. Evans Not On Wall

Finding a place on the Vietnam wall for a local veteran and his shipmates
Buffalo News
By Michelle Kearns
News Staff Reporter
June 4, 2015

Randy Henderson vividly remembers the warm June night 46 years ago when his family got the news that his brother, Terry Lee, had died on a Navy ship during the Vietnam War.

It was 1969. He was 13 and in his older brother’s bedroom when the phone rang at their Westfield home. His father screamed and started to cry. When his dad told his mother as she arrived home from her night job at a drug store, she ran off up the street.

“It’s the type of thing that never leaves you,” said Henderson, who now lives in Mayville.

Worse, the June 3 collision of the USS Frank E. Evans that killed his soft-spoken, guitar-playing brother and 73 others didn’t lead to the kind of honor that most who died in the war received: Their names were not engraved on the black granite Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Now after decades of lobbying by families of the seamen, an effort to right that wrong has been making progress. Sen. Charles E. Schumer officially launched his push to add the names this week with a letter to Navy Secretary Ray Mabus.
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USS Frank E. Evans (DD 754) Association, Inc.

Sep 11, 2009
A Short Documentary made in memory of the 74 US Sailors who died in a collision at sea, involving the USS Frank E. Evans and the HMAS Melbourne. The maritime accident happened on June 3rd 1969 off the coast of wartime Vietnam. The 74 dead were never recognized by the US government as dieing in "the warzone", and subsequently were never added to the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington DC.

Vietnam Veterans Need No Reminders of War

Vietnam veterans say they need no reminders of war 
Standard Speaker
BY JILL WHALEN
Published: April 12, 2015

“Every single day, I think we all think of Vietnam almost every single day,” said Dando, of Gordon.

Daniel Krauson has a ritual when he visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

“There are a few names on there that I always walk over to,” he said.

So does fellow Vietnam veteran Ed Bickowski.

“I guess we all do,” Bickowski said, referring to others who made it back from the war.

This year marks 50 since U.S. combat troops became involved in the Vietnam ground war, and to mark the event, the Pentagon is planning a series of commemorative events beginning in May.

Krauson, Bickowski, and fellow veterans Ed Macknis and Tom Dando recently met at the Anthony P. Damato American Legion “Medal of Honor” Post 792 in Shenandoah and agreed that they don’t need to be reminded of the war.

“Every single day, I think we all think of Vietnam almost every single day,” said Dando, of Gordon.

And while they’re not opposed to the commemoration, the local men agreed that all veterans — regardless of where and when they served — deserve respect and support.

“We don’t want to see our troops coming back the way we did. Not at all,” said Krauson, of Shenandoah, who served in the U.S. Air Force Security Police from 1967-68.

“After the way Vietnam veterans were treated when they came home — the lack of honoring them really played a big part of what goes on today,” said Dando, who served in the Army infantry from 1968-69. “I think people in this country did not want to allow what happened to the Vietnam veterans for whatever reasons to happen to the young men and women of today.”

For the most part, there were no parades or celebrations. Some, like Krauson, ran into anti-war protests upon their return.

“We got off the plane and they briefed us in a room,” Krauson said, remembering the landing in California with Air Force, Marine and Army personnel. “They said, we are going to put you on buses to take you out to the airport. Expect eggs. Expect tomatoes being thrown at you. When you get off the bus, you’re going to have protesters.”
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If you don't believe that part, they listen to what happened to MOH Sammy Davis after he was wounded saving lives in Vietnam. The citation is read while Sammy talked about when he came home.

March 8, 1965, Nearly 5,000 Marines Landed In Da Nang

 

Yesterday was an important anniversary, but I doubt you saw anything on the news or in your local paper.  Sunday marked 50 years since the first brigade-strength U.S. Marine unit arrived in Vietnam. On March 8, 1965, nearly 5,000 Marines from the 9 th Marine Expeditionary Brigade landed to defend the American air base at Da Nang. It's an anniversary that was met with little fanfare. However, the impact of that day and the years that followed during the Vietnam War, still affect our country in ways large and small. Share this story, and together we'll remind everyone why Vietnam still matters. The Vietnam War was arguably the most divisive event in our nation during the 20th Century. When 9 million Americans served, and more than 58,000 made the ultimate sacrifice, not just those service members were forever changed.  Their families, their buddies, and the country as a whole also were impacted socially, politically, and militarily. What Vietnam veterans faced when they came back home, a divided America and at times little to no respect for their service, has now generated a new legacy - a proud legacy of service in America in which people stand and shake the hands of service members and say, "Thank you and welcome home." It was Vietnam veterans who vowed to never again let a generation of Americans go to war without the support and respect they deserve.   As current wars rage on, Vietnam veterans are the first to recognize our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans for their service. As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War, we remember those 5,000 Marines who landed on March 8, 1965, as the beginning of something much larger.  That day was the start of something that not only affected those men and their families, but each and every one of us today. View and share the story here:   http://www.buildthecenter.vvmf.org/50-years-later-vietnam-still-matters Their service and sacrifice still matters . . . To our Marines, we simply say, "Thank you, and Semper Fi."   Jim Knotts CEO Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund

Left At The Wall 400,000 Tributes To Honor Fallen

Stories of grief, love and penance live among what’s left at the Vietnam Wall
The Washington Post
Michael E. Ruane
March 2, 2015

Over the past three decades, the Wall has become a hallowed spot, a place of pilgrimage, homage and reconciliation. Now, some of the 400,000 items left there over the years by visitors are being selected for display in the new $115 million Vietnam War education center planned for a site nearby.

The black and white snapshot of the seven enemy soldiers was left in a box at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial with a two-page letter.

The writer explained how he had grabbed the picture from the knapsack of a dead North Vietnamese soldier after cursing him, kicking him and firing into his corpse in a fit of rage.

The veteran, who was 20 at the time, in 1969, had lost a close friend in battle six days earlier, and his outfit had just ambushed and killed 40 enemy soldiers, including this one, in a “turkey shoot.”

Forty-two years later, the former “grunt” came to the Wall in Washington on a chilly fall morning. He put down the box and, weeping, read his letter aloud.

“I come here today in sadness and humility, the arc of my life having transformed me from the angry young man who desecrated your body to an older man seeking peace. . . . Please forgive me, my brother, and rest in peace.”
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Linked from Stars and Stripes

Sarah Palin Needs Military History Lesson, Quick!

This generation? Is she kidding? Palin repeated the same old line of this generation being different from others.

ALL OF THEM SERVED AND ALL OF THEM WERE NOT TAKEN CARE OF.

Among the number of those committing suicide as Palin stated to be "23" they are not even close but the majority of those veterans are over 50 Gulf War veterans, Vietnam veterans who pushed for everything done on PTSD, and Korean veterans as well as WWII veterans. Palin also didn't even bother to mention that the Congress is responsible for passing laws, rules and funding the VA along with holding people accountable.

Yep, ain't happened in generations.

Sounds like a painful speech Palin should have had Tina Fey read. Wouldn't have been a lot less draining on the ears. Oh by the way, the front of the line has been older veterans waiting even longer for everything she talked about for the newer generation.


Sarah Palin forgot that "he who sent them" was George Bush and he didn't have plans or any intention of getting the VA ready for the growing needs of our veterans. Again, history can't be changed and we know what the history of congress is when it comes to our veterans.

Palin also said that Afghanistan is the longest war. Not true either.

But the official start of the U.S. military involvement in Vietnam, set by the Defense Department in 1998, is Nov. 1, 1955, when the Military Assistance and Advisory Group was established in Saigon. The official end of the Vietnam War for the Department of Veterans Affairs’ purposes is May 7, 1975. Matching that with the DoD start date would make the Vietnam War 19 years, six months long.

Vietnam Memorial Wall
The first American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Air Force T-Sgt. Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. He is listed by the U.S. Department of Defense as having a casualty date of June 8, 1956.

The last American soldier killed in the Vietnam War was Kelton Rena Turner, an 18-year old Marine. He was killed in action on May 15, 1975, two weeks after the evacuation of Saigon, in what became known as the Mayaguez incident.
Others list Gary L. Hall, Joseph N. Hargrove and Danny G. Marshall as the last to die in Vietnam. These three US Marines Corps veterans were mistakenly left behind on Koh Tang Island during the Mayaguez incident. They were last seen together but unfortunately to date, their fate is unknown. They are located on panel 1W, lines 130 - 131.

Congress has had since 1946 to get the veterans in this country taken care of so the sum of all these years is, as many veterans claim, "delay, deny and wait til they die" and politicians just keep making speeches like the one Sarah Palin made.

The Committee on Veterans' Affairs of the House of Representatives was authorized by enactment of Public Law 601, 79th Congress, which was entitled "Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946." Section 121(a) of this Act provides: "there shall be elected by the House at the commencement of each Congress the following standing committees": Nineteen Committees are listed and No. 18 quotes: "Committee on Veterans' Affairs, to consist of 27 Members." This Act has since been amended so that there are now 22 Standing Committees in the House of Representatives. The number of Members (Representatives) authorized to serve on each Committee has been changed from time to time. There are currently 29 members of the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.

UPDATE From Washington Post
Sarah Palin’s inaccurate claim about suicides of veterans of the ‘war on terror’

There also were “significant limitations” in using death certificates, researchers noted. This is mainly due to the inclusion of people who were incorrectly identified as veterans on death certificates.

An updated report with data from at least 44 states is scheduled to be released this summer. The VA, CDC and Department of Defense also are working on a larger study that is expected to be the most comprehensive review of veteran suicides rates and trends.

While researchers and advocates need to know as much information as possible many things stand out and honestly, freak us out!

First, they will never really know the true count. Too many variables. Was it an accidental overdose or on purpose? Was it a true single vehicle accident or on purpose? Was the individual a member of the military or just a claim made on the form or omitted from it?

One more factor we don't talk about is that PTSD comes with a huge array of health issue from heart failure due to the stress associated with it and an ever growing list of illnesses set of by PTSD.

Ok, so not one more, add in TBI. Some still haven't figured out the two are not the same. PTSD strikes after the event caused shock and TBI happens during it when the bombs blow up and a brain is mushed around in a scull. Some suicides should be tied to TBI as well.

Whatever the finding, the conclusion is, there are far more suicides now when more is being done and that is inexcusable, but what makes all this worse is, no one really mentions that nothing about what combat does is new.

These are the numbers of Vietnam veterans who committed suicide when no one was paying attention.

According to a study by Tim A. Bullman and Han K. Yang in the Federal Practitioner 12 (3) : 9-13 (March 1995), “…no more than 20,000 Vietnam Veterans died of suicide from the time of discharge through the end of 1993″. However there are others that claim that many more veterans have died of suicide since the Vietnam War. In Chuck Deans’ book, Nam Vet., printed in 1990 by Multnomah Press, Portland, Oregon, 97226, the author states that “Fifty-eight thousand plus died in the Vietnam War. Over 150,000 have committed suicide since the war ended.” According to this book, Chuck Dean is a Vietnam Veteran who served in the 173rd Airborne, arriving in Vietnam in 1965. At the time the book was written, Mr. Dean was the executive director of Point Man International, a Seattle based, non-profit support organization dedicated to healing the war wounds of Vietnam Veterans.

But hey why bother remembering Vietnam veterans? After all, they are the ones who pushed for all the research into what was happening to them, just like all generations before them and they knew, for sure, all generations coming after them.

Vietnam veterans remember those who didn't make it back

At the Vietnam wall, veterans remember those who didn't make it back
Stars and Stripes
By C.J. Lin
Published: November 11, 2014

"The wall should serve as a reminder for all to support the nation’s veterans — something that those returning from Vietnam didn’t find" said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam veteran and the first enlisted combat veteran to lead the Defense Department.

Veterans Day 2014 at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

C.J. LIN/STARS AND STRIPES

WASHINGTON — Some came to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial bearing flowers and wreaths to honor the dead. One man also came with years of survivor’s guilt.

Marine Corps veteran Woody Postle made a familiar pilgrimage to the Wall on Veterans Day, to see the granite engraved names and pay his respects to 15 men he knew and another three dozen who served with him in Vietnam in the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines. Among them was Pfc. Gerald G. Broussard, whom Postle believes died in his place.

“We were loading on a chopper to go on an operation,” Postle said. “I got placed on the chopper and then they pulled me off the chopper and placed him on the chopper, because he was a machine gunner and they wanted a gun on the ground. And they got shot down.”

That was May 10, 1969, over Quang Tri province. Five of Postle’s guys were killed when the CH-46 helicopter went down. It wasn’t until 2007, after decades of wrestling with the guilt, that Postle finally gathered enough nerve to call Broussard’s mother.

“She talked and I cried,” said Postle, tearing up at the memory. “I said, ‘I’m so sorry Gerry died and I lived.’ And she said, ‘Don’t worry about it, it was Gerald’s time. It wasn’t your time.’ She actually forgave me. And that meant a lot.

“It took me 40 years to call,” Postle said. “Because what do you say to a mother that maybe her son died in your place?”

Postle was among thousands of veterans who visited the wall Tuesday to pay tribute to the fallen and find camaraderie with others who served. Reunions were taking advantage of former brothers-in-arms being in town, and it was also a way for supporters to thank troops for their service.
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Vietnam Veterans Plaza will honor Jan C. Scruggs

Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Plaza to honor Jan Scruggs, Founder and President of VVMF, with Tenth Annual Phelps Award
NEW YORK and WASHINGTON
Oct. 6, 2014

PRNewswire-USNewswire

The Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Plaza will honor Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), as the tenth annual honoree of the Phelps Award. The Phelps Award recognizes outstanding individuals who have distinguished themselves by bringing exemplary honor and support to veterans, and especially Vietnam Veterans.

"It is with a great sense of admiration that the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Plaza board of directors names Jan Scruggs as the 2014 recipient of the Phelps Award which recognizes outstanding individuals who bring honor to our veterans in an exemplary way," said Harry Bridgwood, Chairman of the Friends of the Vietnam Veterans Plaza. "Jan is truly deserving of this award for his outstanding dedication to honoring Vietnam veterans, begun over three decades ago, and his unwavering and ongoing commitment to honor America's legacy of military service, our veterans and those who are serving today."

"It is quite an honor to be chosen for this award amongst such a distinguished group of previous award winners. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial welcomed home Vietnam veterans in 1982 and today my mission continues with the campaign to build the Education Center at The Wall. The Center will teach future generations about America's legacy of service and make sure that the faces and stories of our heroes are never forgotten. When the Center is built, Vietnam veterans will welcome home the veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, who will also be honored there," said Scruggs.

Scruggs was a wounded and decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, having served in the 199th Light Infantry Brigade of the U.S. Army. In 1979, he conceived the idea of building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as a tribute to all who served during one of the longest wars in American history. Today, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is among the most visited memorials in the nation's capital. Scruggs launched the effort with $2,800 of his own money and gradually gained the support of other Vietnam veterans in persuading Congress to provide a prominent location on federal government property somewhere in Washington, D.C. The site chosen was on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial.

As president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the nonprofit organization created to build and maintain the Memorial, Scruggs headed up the effort that raised $8.4 million and saw the Memorial completed in just two years. It was dedicated on November 13, 1982, during a week-long national salute to Vietnam veterans in the nation's capital. Scruggs continues to lead VVMF as it enters a new phase in its mission to remember those who sacrificed in Vietnam: building the Education Center at The Wall. The Education Center will show the photos and tell the stories of those who made the ultimate sacrifice during the Vietnam War, as well as celebrate the values embodied by American service members in all of our nation's wars.

The Phelps Award was designed by artist John Phelps, a Navy veteran who served during the Vietnam War. In 2003, John Phelps began working with the Friends of Vietnam Veterans Plaza on the award, resulting in the creation of a sculpted replica of a Vietnam era battle helmet. The battle helmet is mounted on a handcrafted green glass-block, inscribed with excerpts from the "letters home," also engraved on the New York City Vietnam Veterans Memorial located in the Plaza at 55 Water Street.

The Friends of Vietnam Veterans Plaza named their Honoree of the Year Award to recognize the service of John Phelps and his son, Marine Corps Lance Corporal Chance Russell Phelps. Chance was killed in action while conducting combat operations west of Baghdad on April 9th 2004. He was nineteen years old.
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The Wall

"If you are able, save for them a place inside of you and save one backward glance when you are leaving for the places they can no longer go.

Be not ashamed to say you loved them, though you may or may not have always. Take what they have taught you with their dying and keep it with your own.

And in that time when men decide and feel safe to call the war insane, take one moment to embrace those gentle heroes you left behind."

Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
1 January 1970
Dak To, Vietnam
Listed as KIA February 7, 1978

Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Ride to The Wall

Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Ride To The Wall Covered by CSPAN leaves a huge question. With so many so concerned about veterans, how could these videos have so few views?

• 
  MAY 25, 2014
  

  Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Ride, Part 5

  Members of the Rolling Thunder veterans' advocacy group were seen riding across the Arlington Memorial Bridge that spans the Potomac River connecting downtown Washington, D.C., and Memorial…

  2,811 VIEWS
• 
  MAY 25, 2014
  

  Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Ride, Part 4

  A live scene was shown of the Rolling Thunder XXVII “Ride for Freedom.” Members of the Rolling Thunder veterans' advocacy group were seen riding across the Arlington Memorial…

  2 VIEWS
• 
  MAY 25, 2014
  

  Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Ride, Part 3

  A live scene was shown of the Rolling Thunder XXVII “Ride for Freedom.” Members of the Rolling Thunder veterans' advocacy group were seen riding across the Arlington Memorial…

  3 VIEWS
• 
  MAY 25, 2014
  

  Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Ride, Part 2

  A live scene was shown of the Rolling Thunder XXVII “Ride for Freedom.” Members of the Rolling Thunder veterans' advocacy group were seen riding across the Arlington Memorial…

  4 VIEWS
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  MAY 25, 2014
  

  Rolling Thunder Memorial Day Ride, Part 1

  A live scene was shown of the Rolling Thunder XXVII “Ride for Freedom.” Members of the Rolling Thunder veterans' advocacy group were seen riding across the Arlington Memorial…

Names Added to Vietnam Memorial Wall

The poignant process of etching new names into the Vietnam Wall
Stars and Stripes
By Carlos Bongioanni
Published: May 7, 2014

Preparing to cut another name into the black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, engraver Jim Lee carefully positions a stencil and a sandblasting platform at a designated spot on the Washington, D.C., memorial on Friday, May 2, 2014. Carlos Bongioanni/Stars and Stripes

WASHINGTON — Lined row upon row, the names etched on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial’s polished black granite slabs are a somber reminder that more than 58,000 U.S. troops died — or were listed as missing-in-action — as a result of their involvement in the Vietnam War.

Even though the war ended four decades ago, the list continues to grow as Jim Lee and Kirk Bockman find spots to carefully sandblast new names on the memorial.

“It’s a very poignant statement about what war is all about,” Lee said of the wall last week, as the engraver and his business partner prepped a cordoned-off section of what’s known as “the Wall.”

On Sunday, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund will host a ceremony at the memorial in recognition of the 13 veterans whose names they added. Eight veterans listed on the wall as missing will be recognized as having their status changed to “confirmed dead.”

Lee and Bockman came to the memorial in 1986 to add 110 names. The names on the original, dedicated in 1982, came from a Department of Defense master list that planners never intended to update, Lee said. Thinking the follow-up work might be “a one-time deal,” Lee said he asked Jan Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, how long the updating might go on.
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U.S. casualties from OEF and OIF will be honored at Vietnam Wall

U.S. casualties from Afghanistan, Iraq will be honored at Vietnam Wall
The Washington Post
Michael E. Ruane
April 6, 2014

WASHINGTON — The first name that will be read at the ceremony on Memorial Day weekend is that of Evander Earl Andrews.

A small-town boy, he left his parents’ home in central Maine, joined the Air Force, and on Oct. 10, 2001, became the first military member reported killed in the post 9/11 wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

His mother, Mary, 71, said on Friday that she never thought his death would be followed by 6,700 more.

On May 24, Andrews’ name and the names of the others killed in the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be read aloud chronologically for the first time in a tribute at the Vietnam Wall, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

The ceremony will open at 9 a.m. on the east knoll of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and the reading will run from about 10 a.m. to about 5:40 p.m., the fund said.

Those interested can register to read names starting at 8 a.m. on April 14 at Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. People will be asked to read 15 names at a time.

Brothers work to put a face to every NC name on Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Brothers work to put a face to every NC name on Vietnam Veterans Memorial
The (Raleigh, N.C.) News and Observer
By MARTHA QUILLIN
Published: December 1, 2013

RALEIGH, N.C. — After the Army drafted him and got him ready to work as a combat medic, Charles Allen Collins must have looked like a lot of the other 2.5 million troops who served in Vietnam: a lanky young man in a uniform.

But what did he look like up close — before he left his hometown of Holly Springs, N.C. — sitting across the dinner table from his family or at a desk in a classroom? Did he have dark hair? Glasses? Did he look handsome in a half-smile and a suit, like the Charles Allen Collins on Page 362 of the 1963 Agromeck, the N.C. State yearbook?

Could that be Charlie, who spent just a year in service before he was killed by small-arms fire during a major battle in November 1965, when he was 23?

"I'm betting it is," said Jim Reece, of Wilmington, who wants to put the faces of people such as Collins in a place where relatives and the world at large can see, and perhaps remember them. That place would be in an addition to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C..
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Where is the country they were willing to die for?

Where is the country they were willing to die for?
Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
October 6, 2013

Flag raisers at Iwo Jima
Mike Strank

Their leader and Sergeant, it was Mike who got the order to climb Mt. Suribachi. Mike picked his “boys” and led them safely to the top. Mike explained to the boys that the larger flag had to be raised so that “every Marine on this cruddy island can see it.” It was Mike who gave the orders to find a pole, attach the flag and “put’er up!” He was killed by a mortar.

Harlon Block took over the unit after Strank was killed. Block was killed hours later.

Franklin Sousley was also killed on Iwo Jima at the age of 19.

Ira Hayes said after being called a hero by President Roosevelt, “How could I feel like a hero when only five men in my platoon of 45 survived, when only 27 men in my company of 250 managed to escape death or injury?”

Rene Gagnon and John Bradley also survived.

These men became a symbol of what this country means to the men and women risking their lives everyday to defend the nation. They do it for the others they are with. They do it for the families back home. This country was worth whatever price they knew they faced paying.

The Pew Research Group pointed out that only a fifth of the members of congress have military experience. They also have a fascinating graphic to show the decline in the number of veterans holding office.

This is very telling especially when you consider the next part their research showed. Veterans are only 7% of the population.

That should tell us something right there. They are only 7% of the population now but 20% of the Congress.

They come from all over the country, from different generations, different political beliefs but every one of them knows what it is like to put their lives on the line for the sake of others. In war, no one asks another how he/she voted in the last election before trying to save them. No one asks what they believe because they believe in one another. They are doing what the congress and the president at the time said needed to be done and that was all they wanted to know.

It was never about supporting a person as Commander-in-Chief but always about what the country needed and what other Americans were heading into.

Now as they see their age advancing, not knowing how many more years they have left to visit the Memorials this nation erected to honor their sacrifices, they find they can only see them from a distance. Really sad when you think that many of these veterans have arranged trips to Washington a long time ago but Congress didn't plan for keeping this nation running even though they have had years to put the country first. Pathetic when you think about it.

So now the press is jumping all over the reports of them showing up at the WWII Memorial, Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Wall, all closed down, but never seem to understand what those memorials really mean to them. It isn't about stones carved to honor them. It is how they have lived to honor the lives lost in war.

Most veterans are more upset about the fact congress did not manage to put the country first and keep the government running. Sure they care about if they will get their disability checks and be able to have their claims honored but they care about this whole country and political games being played. They are very unhappy with members of congress using them like pawns in this battle of egos.

When will members of congress ever learn they are supposed to be putting this country first so they will really honor the men and women from all generations willing to die to defend her? They care about every part of this country just as other Americans do. They have their own political views, again, just like every other American. Unlike members of congress, the right thing to do for the good of the whole came first. So where is this country they were willing to die for? Will Congress ever really get what they are supposed to do for the sake of the whole country?

UPDATE

Dennis Ross, GOP Rep: 'Pride' Is Why Republicans Won't Budge On Government Shutdown
Huffington Post
Sabrina Siddiqui
October 5, 2013

WASHINGTON -- With the government shutdown in its fifth day, many Republicans have conceded the fight is no longer about Obamacare. Rep. Dennis Ross (R-Fla.) added his name to the list on Saturday, saying the matter now boils down to "pride."

“Republicans have to realize how many significant gains we’ve made over the last three years, and we have, not only in cutting spending but in really turning the tide on other things," Ross told The New York Times. "We can’t lose all that when there’s no connection now between the shutdown and the funding of Obamacare."
read more here

I rest my case.

Vietnam veterans moved barricades at The Wall

Vietnam veterans finally got to visit their memorial but without congress doing their jobs. Congress doesn't do their jobs but get paid. Park Rangers do their jobs, don't get paid and end up having to tell veterans they can't go to their memorials. This is wrong beyond words.

Closure of War Memorials Continues to Cause Conflict
NBC News
Friday, Oct 4, 2013

The closure of D.C.'s war memorials continues to be a source of contention for tourists and law enforcement officials.

Like the hundreds of World War II veterans who came to National Mall to pay their respects this week, a group of Vietnam veterans found a barricade blocking the way to their memorial Friday. News4's Mark Segraves said two U.S. Park Service Rangers manning the gate asked that the group respect the government's shutdown but moved aside.

Segraves described the exchange as pleasant and respectful.

The veterans then moved the barricade and walked down to the wall to pay their respects. But a flood of tourists followed even though the memorial is closed to the general public.

"The consensus among the group of Vietnam veterans was we're going to go anyway.

We'll go through the barricade," North Carolina resident Reid Mendenhall said.
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The truth is, Vietnam veterans have been moving things out of the way for veterans ever since they got home and show no signs of stopping.

See, Vietnam veterans decided that they would never, ever allow another group of veterans to be treated the way they were. They kept that promise and today, as imperfect as it is, all the help available for OEF and OIF veterans along with Gulf War veterans, was made possible because they never gave up on the rest of us.

Shame on this congress for turning what veterans risked their lives for into some kind of political game. How serious are they? How much time did they have to figure out a budget? It has been years since they did their jobs and passed budgets in both Houses. Shame on all of them! GET BACK TO WORK FOR THE COUNTRY AND STOP THIS NONSENSE!

Photo project memorializes fallen Vietnam soldiers

Photo project memorializes fallen Vietnam soldiers
Sun Sentinel
By Mike Clary
August 5, 2013

Since it opened in 1982, perhaps no monument in the U.S. has evoked more sadness, and drawn more tears, than the black granite wall in the nation's capital known as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Until recently, however, nearly half of the more than 58,000 names inscribed on the wall have been faceless — unaccompanied by any archival photo or biography that tells the story of who those soldiers, Marines and airmen were.

Among the undocumented are some 1,100 men and women from Florida, including 144 from Broward and Palm Beach counties.

But now, the faces and stories of Lance Cpl. Robert Irwin, 20, of Hollywood, fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Walter "Bucky" Gierman II, 21, from Lake Worth, and others are being collected thanks to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund's "Call For Photos."

It is part of Faces Never Forgotten, a nationwide campaign to gather photographs of service members whose names are inscribed on the Washington memorial.

"We want to show who they were, to make it more than just a name on the wall," said former Naval officer John Dibble, a Vietnam veteran and chairman of the VVMF's board. "They were people with loved ones and comrades, and we want to bring that home to new generations of visitors."
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Jan 23, 2012
Take a in-depth tour of the Education Center at The Wall, the place on the National Mall where the stories and sacrifices of military heroes will never be forgotten. The Education Center at The Wall will put a face to every name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

To ensure that these brave individuals are never lost to future generations, we need your help to build the Center. To learn how you can help visit: www.buildthecenter.org

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund would like to thank Vietnam veteran and supporter Richard McGonagle for providing the narration.

Families want names added to Vietnam Memorial Wall

Listing on Vietnam Wall sought for troops killed in 1962 plane crash
Stars and Stripes
By Matthew M. Burke
Published: July 24, 2013

Before departing for Vietnam 51 years ago, Army Sgt. 1st Class Raymond “Bill” Myers left behind his ID, dog tags and a gold ring he had never taken off before. He told his brother-in-law that he had a bad feeling about the mission and didn’t think he would be coming home. He asked him to watch over his wife and children after he was gone.

Myers then boarded a military-chartered Flying Tiger Airline Lockheed Super Constellation aircraft at Travis Air Force Base in California. After several stops, the plane disappeared over the Pacific and the 93 American soldiers, three South Vietnamese military men and 11 crewmembers onboard were never heard from again. They were declared dead less than two months later.

Myers’ son, Tommy Joe — like the families of the other lost Americans — has no answers about his father’s fate. Adding to that pain is how his father and the others have been forgotten. Their names are not on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and no government agencies — Army, Air Force, Defense Department, National Archives, State Department, CIA — admit to possessing records related to the soldiers and their mission. None could provide Stars and Stripes with a list of the deceased, although they are mentioned in a Civil Aeronautics Board crash report from 1962.
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Vietnam veterans get special Honor Flight

Vietnam veterans get special Honor Flight
Journal Sentinel
By Meg Jones
July 20, 2013

The first thing Jim Schertz will do is find four names etched into the black granite.

They're not simply names to the retired Milwaukee firefighter and Vietnam veteran. They were his buddies and comrades. They did not come home from the war.

"Just the fact they're still missing in action is unbelievable," said Schertz, 62.

Schertz will head straight to one of the last sections of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, known as 2W, and his eyes will scan to Lines 128 and 129. That's where Douglas L. O'Neil, Larry A. Zich, Allen D. Christensen and Edward W. Williams are listed among the more than 52,000 other Americans killed in Vietnam.

Schertz has never been to the Wall or Washington. But he's flying to the nation's capital on Aug. 2 with 110 other Vietnam veterans in the first Honor Flight for Wisconsin veterans of that war.

Appleton-based Old Glory Honor Flight, whose motto is "It's never too late to say thank you," has organized numerous one-day trips to Washington for World War II veterans to visit memorials. To commemorate the 40th anniversary of the end of hostilities in Vietnam, organizers decided to arrange a one-time-only trip for Vietnam veterans.

Old Glory Honor Flight's goal is to continue the free trips for World War II and Korean War veterans. With a waiting list of more than 500 names, it will be a few more years until the group can turn its attention to Vietnam veterans.

"Vietnam veterans as a group have been so incredibly supportive of our organization and really helped us get off the ground for our first flight in '09, so we thought this was a perfect way to give back to them," Old Glory Honor Flight President Drew MacDonald said.

The flight will leave Oshkosh early Aug. 2 with stops at the Wall, Smithsonian American History Museum and Arlington National Cemetery to see the changing of the guard ceremony. Veterans will wear special shirts and receive small tote bags filled with snacks, tissues, and pencils and tracing paper if they want to make an etching of a name on the Wall. The group will return that evening to EAA AirVenture to a hero's welcome and concert by actor Gary Sinise's Lt. Dan Band.
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Washington taken over by rev of half a million motorcycles

Rolling Thunder 2013
Veterans, POWs Honored In Nation's Capital With Annual Motorcycle Rally (PHOTOS) (VIDEO)
Posted: 05/27/2013

Rolling Thunder 2013

WASHINGTON -- On Sunday, many thousands of motorcyclists rode from the Pentagon to the National Mall, ending their 10-mile trip near the Lincoln Memorial.

2013 marks the 26th Rolling Thunder -- an annual rally that honors veterans and fallen soldiers, and raises awareness about prisoners of war and soldiers who are missing in action.

By some estimates, this year's event brought some 500,000 riders to the nation's capital.

(Go to the link above for the video and more great pictures.)

Members of Rolling Thunder clean THE WALL and heal their souls

Cleaning Vietnam Memorial Proves Healing for Veterans 
Voice of America
Julie Taboh
May 17, 2013

Under a newly-risen sun in Washington, D.C., a group of men and women are elbow deep in soapsuds.

They are members of Rolling Thunder, a group dedicated to raising awareness about American prisoners of war and those still missing in action.

Armed with buckets and brushes, they wash the granite walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which bears the names of 58,286 U.S. service members who were killed or declared missing in action during the two-decade-long conflict, which ended in 1975.
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