Wall stirs bittersweet memories

[thedrifter]

Wall stirs bittersweet memories

By: AGNES DIGGS - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- Gerald "Skip" Cline, now 63, fought with all his heart in a thankless war.

The 20-year career Marine served two tours in Vietnam, earned a medal for shrapnel injuries he suffered when a booby-trap exploded in front of him, and came home to a divided nation that shunned him and his military brothers.

In the Vietnam era, instead of hugs, handshakes, backslapping and parades, returning servicemen were met with anti-war protests or just plain silence.


"When we went over there, that's your profession and that's what we did," Cline said last week, adding that his return from Vietnam was bittersweet.

"I never had anyone spit on me, but there was definitely a change in people at home," he recalled. "It was just the look when you wore your uniform here. It wasn't as bad in Oceanside. But when I went to San Diego and they saw your uniform, people would say, 'Are you sorry you went?' and the answer is, 'No, I'm not sorry I went.'"

And so returning service members faded into the fabric of society, some bitter, some angry, some irreparably damaged, physically and emotionally. Most settled in as solid citizens holding dark memories they didn't feel free to share ---- until 1979, when a small group of veterans launched one last battle in the name of their comrades.

Their efforts led to the construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ---- also known as "The Wall" ---- a polished black granite structure inscribed with 58,235 names, including some listed as prisoners of war or missing in action. The memorial, completed in fall 1982, is dedicated to the 2.7 million members of the military who served during the Vietnam era, living and dead.

Beginning on Friday, one of three traveling replicas of the memorial will open in Oceanside, drawing as many as 200,000 visitors by the end of its three-day run.

Many veterans are planning to join the throng.

Duty and honor

Gerald Cline plans to visit after regular hours to see the Wall for the first time, and to serve as a volunteer helping visitors on the 4 p.m.-to-midnight shift for the three days it's here. He heard from a friend that people came at all hours of the day and night when the memorial visited San Diego several years ago.

"I want to be there when and if some of the guys come at 2 o'clock in the morning, like me, so we can sit there and talk," he said. "Some of the guys that have been (there) and need to come again. If they can't get there during the day when the big crowds are there, then they have to come at night. And especially the guys that got the Purple Heart. We want to talk to them, too."

In the war, Cline worked for the first Marine battalion since 1946 to have scout dogs. He served his first tour in 'Nam from January 1966 to March 1967. In February 1968, he returned and was attached to the 27th Marines working security at Fubai Airport, which was mortared on a regular basis to keep the aircraft grounded.

Six of his comrades are listed on the wall.

"At least one (buddy) I was about 65 feet from when the booby-trap went off," he said.

Cline is a member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart, Chapter 493, which meets in Vista. In spite of the post-Vietnam war letdown, he has invested his greatest treasure in the defense of his country ---- three sons, all Army guys. Michael Cline, who just turned 30, is leaving to serve in Iraq. Alexander, 34, recently returned home from fighting in Fallujah in the second brigade of the 82nd Airborne. Nicholas, 24, a Ranger, fought terrorists in Afghanistan before returning home to train as a special forces medic.

Tattooed warrior

Encinitas resident Jim Brown, now 59, married 30 years and father of three college-age children, also served in the U.S. Marine Corps. He went to Vietnam in 1969 and spent a chunk of the year he was stationed there taking enemy fire.

"I saw quite a bit of combat," he said. "Seems like six times I got on a helicopter with everybody, and six times we got shot at. A lot of people were wounded around me, but I never got hit."

Before entering the military, Brown graduated from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in business management. He enlisted the year of the Tet offensive and was commissioned a second lieutenant, destined for service in Vietnam.

But it wasn't a battle or the helicopter flights that earned him a Purple Heart. He was wounded leaving his compound on a mission.

"We were hit with a booby trap," he said. "It took out me and my radio man. I got multiple shrapnel wounds. It pretty much sprayed the front of my body. I didn't lose any eyesight or any fingers. I didn't get any major disabilities out of it. Just shrapnel."

After recuperating in Guam for "six or seven" weeks, he returned and finished his tour. He calls the scars left by the process of peeling away skin to remove the debris from his flesh his "Vietnam tattoos."

Brown said he had heard about the demonstrations and anti-war activity at home, but saw it as a by-product of freedom.

"I didn't take it wrong," he said. "I think if we don't have the freedoms that we have for people to speak up, we get into even bigger messes. I think it's healthy to have the protest."

He finished his tour at Camp Horn, III-MAF, the Marine Corps Headquarters in Da Nang, and even after the Marines were pulled out, he continued as a liaison to the Army until he rotated out in 1970.

Brown first visited the Wall in Washington 10 years ago. Several friends are listed there, he said.

"It's truly an amazing moment," he said, describing his first sight of the memorial. "I thought I had that under control, and I cried my eyes out. When you actually see those names and see the Wall, it takes you away."

It seemed like forever before a memorial was proposed, he said, and he didn't like the final design concept when it was presented.

"But when you actually see it ---- oh my gosh, it's just superb," he said. In fact, he wrote a letter to designer Maya Ying Lin and apologized for his doubts.

"I thought it (the concept) was way too simple," he said. "But after seeing it (the memorial), I told her I could see the beauty in it."

Brown is planning to tour the traveling memorial and hopes to be chosen as a volunteer to assist visitors, he said.

"I want to help people find names" and do the penciled stencilings, he said.

The breakfast club

Ted Vallas, 59, is a proud father of four, Scoutmaster, Christian, graduate engineer and country club manager. Vallas is also a member of the Old Bold Pilots, a group that meets on Wednesdays to breakfast at Denny's in Oceanside and to swap stories about flying.

But it was his role as a fighter pilot that in 1971 twice earned him the U.S. Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross for his service in Vietnam. Then-Captain Vallas logged 198 combat missions over Laos, North Vietnam, Cambodia and South Vietnam, flying for the 388th Tactical Fighter Wing of the 34th Tactical Fighter Squadron, known as the "Wrecking Crew."

Both his father and uncle before him had military careers, returning to a hero's welcome. Vallas returned from the jungle to insulting anti-war protests. He had left behind, lost but not forgotten, a friend who served in his wedding.

"On the Wall is the best man from my wedding," he said. "He was shot down in an F-100 (fighter jet) and killed. Missing in action over Laos, but he's on the Wall. His name is Pat Carroll. He left a widow and two young baby girls when he was shot down, and they never found him."

continued......

[thedrifter]

During the war, Vallas said, his college roommate and fraternity brother, Brian Seek, was shot down and captured, then released after one year of imprisonment.

Last April, Vallas took his sons to visit the Wall in Washington, where they made a stencil copy of Carroll's name.

"I was pretty choked up, and I was very impressed with how solemn everybody was, and how respectful everybody was," he said. "People were on their knees praying. They were leaving memorabilia. And I mean extensive memorabilia. It was very memorable and honorable."

He plans to take his Scouts to visit the traveling Wall. Several of them have asked him about flying and combat, he said. He tells them it was "hours and hours of sheer boredom interrupted by brief moments of stark terror."

Vallas is convinced that things could have turned out better if the war had been left to the military.

"I think history will prove if there has to be a war, you leave it up to the generals to fight the war," he said. "If you give them the opportunity to fight the war as rapidly as they can, a lot of lives will be saved on both sides."

Loss and separation

Patrick Connolly, 68, retired from the U.S. Air Force after more than 25 years as a chief master sergeant. Connolly worked on equipment maintenance in 'Nam in 1969-70. He was 36, with a wife, June, holding the fort at home. Connolly served temporary duty in Vietnam at Cam Ranh Bay. In those days, men and equipment were rotated in as needed, a practice that often precluded long-term bonding and caused feelings of isolation, he said.

"In World War II, they sent a whole outfit," he said. "In Vietnam, you went when you were called. You got on an airplane. Sometimes you didn't even know the people you were with on the airplane. It's better when you have a whole unit that's been working together. You know the people better than when you're just plugged into a hole."

Connolly wasn't on the front lines, but he was still a target. One night, during the refueling of a 5,000-gallon fuel tank, rockets began raining down less than a football-field's length away from him. He was sitting on top of the tank. After warning the men to shut everything down, he ran for cover, he said.

Some of the people who worked in his field are now listed on the Wall, he said, and he's looking forward to the traveling memorial experience.

"I don't know what my feelings are going to be," he said. "I haven't gone to the Wall because I didn't know how I'd react to it. That's why I waited for it to come here."

He said he only wishes that some form of acknowledgement of Vietnam vets had come sooner.

Contact staff writer Agnes Diggs at (760) 740-3511 or adiggs@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/18/military/17_43_454_17_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

War memorial stirs mixed feelings

By: AGNES DIGGS - Staff Writer

If you happened to see "Wild Bill" Cannon, you might look twice. But he's used to people staring at his long, flowing hair and all those tattoos.

He's used to drawing public attention astride his 1998 Electra Glide Ultra Classic motorcycle.

Some might think of him and his fellow cyclists as "just dirty bikers," he said. But Cannon is a Vietnam veteran who enlisted in the Navy to serve his country ---- not once, but twice.


And like others, he came home to a divided nation that shunned him and his military brothers.

"(Overseas) we heard the reports of people being spit on and cussed at and called baby-killers," he said. "But the way I look at is that we all enlisted to protect and serve our country. That's one of the reasons I went in. I love this country to pieces and I'm going to do what I can as a citizen to protect it. I feel very proud and honored to be able to do that. And I did it twice."

In the Vietnam era, instead of hugs, handshakes, backslapping and parades, returning service members were met with anti-war protests or just plain silence. Some became bitter, some angry, some were irreparably damaged physically and emotionally.

Most settled in as solid citizens holding dark memories they didn't feel free to share ---- until 1979, when a small group of veterans launched one last battle in the name of their comrades.

Their efforts led to the construction of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ---- also known as "The Wall" ---- a polished black granite structure inscribed with 58,235 names, including some listed as prisoners of war or missing in action. The memorial, completed in fall 1982, is dedicated to the 2.7 million members of the military who served during the Vietnam era.

Beginning on Friday, one of three traveling replicas of the memorial will open in Oceanside, expected to draw as many as 200,000 visitors during its three-day run.

Many veterans are planning to join the throng.

Cannon, now 50, has been to The Wall in the capital twice, he said. He placed two MIA reminder bracelets there because he found the men listed, and made pencil tracings of the names.

"When people get to that wall and see all those names ---- 50,000-plus names --- that all those guys died for their country is just so overwhelming," he said. "I'm proud of all those guys on the wall but I'm sad for them too because they lost their lives."

From 1972 to 1975 Cannon worked ground support aboard the aircraft carrier USS Hancock, putting in 18-hour days to the point of exhaustion.

"I dropped out of high school just before the start of my senior year and went through boot camp," he said. "I was 18 at the time so I didn't need permission. For some reason my heart felt that was the thing to do."

He was based in the Gulf of Tonkin most of the time, but also cruised the outskirts of Cam Ranh Bay. In 1975, when Saigon fell, he helped evacuate almost 10,000 civilian refugees.

"We turned our little aircraft carrier into a home for evacuees," he said. "It became a helicopter ship --- that's what was shuttling the South Vietnamese to our ship and other ships in the region."

When Cannon returned to the states, there was no big fanfare, he said. There was little or nothing.

"Nobody ever wanted to talk about it (the war)," he said. "It was like it wasn't a part of their lives. It was like I had gone on an extensive vacation."

Cannon lives in Winchester with his wife, Kathy, and their four children, on the property his family has owned for decades. He eventually completed his education and, in 1990, enlisted in the National Guard.

Despite his biker image, he said, "I'm a successful family man, working for the phone company for 27 years."

He's also director of the Temecula chapter of the Harley Owners Group. Kathy Cannon is a member of the local chapter of Ladies of Harley.

"It's a passion, like golf," Wild Bill said. "I enjoy golf, too."

The memorial will also draw Oceanside resident Gerald "Skip" Cline, now 63. The 20-year career Marine served two tours in Vietnam and earned a Purple Heart for shrapnel injuries he suffered when a booby-trap exploded in front of him. The return stateside was bittersweet for him as well.

"I never had anyone spit on me, but there was definitely a change in people at home," he recalled. "It was just the look when you wore your uniform here. It wasn't as bad in Oceanside. But when I went to San Diego and they saw your uniform, people would say, 'Are you sorry you went?' and the answer is, 'No, I'm not sorry I went.'"

Six of his comrades are listed on the wall.

"At least one (buddy) I was about 65 feet from when the booby-trap went off," he said.

In spite of the post-Vietnam War letdown, Cline has invested his greatest treasure in the defense of his country ---- three sons, all Army guys.

Temecula resident Michael Cline, who just turned 30, is preparing to leave to serve in Iraq. Alexander, 34, recently returned home from fighting in Fallujah in the second brigade of the 82nd Airborne. Nicholas, 24, a Ranger, fought terrorists in Afghanistan before returning home to train as a special forces medic.

The Harley Owners Group meets monthly at Quaid's Harley Davidson on Old Town Front Street. They perform community service and "charity stuff," Cannon said.

"We're Harley enthusiasts," Cannon said. "We love to ride, we love to eat, we love to drink now and then. Just a bunch of good folks with a common interest."

Another thing they share is a dedication to members of the military, past present and future. Next month they're leaving for Washington, D.C., for the annual Rolling Thunder parade "where they show support for troops, living and dead, who fight for the country," Cannon said.

Contact staff writer Agnes Diggs at (909) 676-4315, Ext. 3511, or adiggs@californian.com.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/18/military/18_24_114_17_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Vietnam Wall Experience expected to unleash emotions

By: PHIL DIEHL - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- A traveling replica of the Vietnam War Memorial will arrive in Oceanside this week for a three-day visit that is expected to unleash a flood of emotions among residents and visitors alike in this red-white-and-blue military town.

The Vietnam Wall Experience is a three-quarter-size replica of the actual 10-foot-tall, 493-foot-long, black granite monument in Washington, D.C., that was designed in 1990 by artist Maya Ying Lin. It's the largest of three traveling replicas.

This particular replica ---- built in 1991 for Dignity Memorials, a national association of cemeteries and funeral home operators ---- stops in an average of 22 cities every year from the spring through the fall and it never goes to the same place twice, said Debra Kurtz, the executive director of Eternal Hills Memorial Park in Oceanside and coordinator of the Oceanside visit.


"We are the third venue of the year," Kurtz said Tuesday. "After us, it goes to Baton Rouge, (La.)."

This year's first stop was Monrovia, near Pasadena, where it was on display April 9 through 11.

"It was well received," said Tammy Eacker, venue coordinator at Live Oak Memorial Park in Monrovia. "It was a steady, steady flow of traffic the three days it was here."

Some visitors were veterans, others were families looking up loved ones, and a few people came to look for the names of high school classmates, she said. People often brought memorabilia or bouquets of flowers to leave behind.

In Monrovia, the replica was set up at a cemetery, where Eacker estimated that it had 8,000 visitors during the stay.

While most of the replica's stops are at cemeteries, Oceanside's visit will be different. City officials have agreed to allow the replica to go up on a downtown vacant lot at Pacific Street and Pier View Way, just east of the municipal pier.

Big expectations

Oceanside is expected to host one of the replica's largest crowds because of the public location, the area's strong military connections, and the unfolding conflict in Iraq. Dozens of Marines from nearby Camp Pendleton have been killed in Iraq in recent weeks. According to the Defense Department, as of Saturday nearly 700 members of the U.S. armed forces had been killed since military operations began in Iraq last year.

"We're not going to forget our veterans again," Eacker said. "The Vietnam Wall does bring back those memories ... that the veterans weren't always welcome when they came home."

The wall can have remarkable effects on visitors, said Bill Hosmer, a Carlsbad resident who spent 11 months in Vietnam with the U.S. Army infantry.

"It's a place where people need to go to make peace with their past ... to have an opportunity to say their goodbyes," Hosmer said. "When combat soldiers were in Vietnam, when someone in their unit got killed or wounded, they were evacuated from the battlefield very quickly by helicopter. There was no opportunity to say goodbye or anything like that because things happened so fast. Sometimes you didn't know if a man lived or died. They just disappeared."

Vietnam veterans will escort the wall into town, participate in the opening and closing ceremonies, and remain available throughout the replica's stay to answer visitors' questions, said George Brown, the executive director of the Armed Services YMCA at Camp Pendleton, who is helping his wife, Carolyn, coordinate volunteers.

About 80 volunteers are expected, most of whom are veterans or active-duty members of military services, Brown said.

Vets volunteer

"Some of the people will man the information tent," he said. "We will have three people, probably Vietnam vets, who will actually be on the walkway on the wall. Each of these people will be carrying the index book, which is how you locate a name. They will also have rubbing paper and pencils."

People visiting the replica, as they do at the actual memorial, often use rubbing paper and pencils to reproduce the name of a friend or relative on the wall. Everything will be free to the visitors, Brown said.

Not so for the sponsors, he said. Although the city has agreed to waive its usual fees for special events, sponsors still need donations to help defer a number of costs, he said. The Oceanside visit is expected to cost about $16,000 ---- more than most other stops ---- because of its public location. Only about $1,500 has been raised, Brown said last week.

"The security alone ... so people don't tag or damage the wall, is costing us about $8,000," he said.

Several veterans organizations offered to provide security, but their offers could not be accepted. Because the site is a public place and large crowds are expected, Brown said, the insurance provider requires that a bonded company provide security.

"We had to put a fence around the stand (where the replica will be erected) because people would take the wood down to the beach and burn it," he said.

Another significant expense: bleachers, which will cost $4,000 to erect.

Motorcycle escort

The disassembled wall is expected to arrive in Oceanside between 11 and 11:30 a.m. Tuesday from its previous stop at Corona Del Mar in Orange County, said Kurtz, the local coordinator. A group of up to 30 Vietnam veterans riding motorcycles will meet the truck when it gets off Interstate 5 at Mission Avenue and will escort it to the Pacific Street site.

Assembly will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday, she said. Also to be completed that day are the installation of bleachers, restrooms, lighting, flagpoles, tents, some potted shrubs and other material to improve the site.

On Thursday, the site will be open to a limited number of school groups, Kurtz said.

"We tried to gear it toward fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth grades because that would be the likely age for grandchildren for these veterans," she said.

The memorial officially opens with a ceremony at noon Friday and will remain open around the clock until midnight Sunday, she said. Details of the ceremonies were still being worked out last week.

Speakers anticipated for the opening ceremony include Orange County Judge David Carter, Assemblyman Mark Wyland, R-Escondido, and Col. John Bates, a Vietnam veteran still serving on active duty at Camp Pendleton. Other participants include a color guard from the Oceanside Fire Department and the San Onofre Elementary School choir and band.

A candlelight ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m. Saturday, hosted by Cmdr. Bill Perdue, a Navy chaplain, and a uniformed representative of each branch of military service.

The closing ceremony at 5 p.m. Sunday will include remarks by Bates; David Gregg, a Vietnam veteran and former U.S. Marine and Secret Service agent; and J. Stryker Meyer, a North County Times columnist and a veteran of the U.S. Army special forces in Vietnam. The memorial will remain open after the closing service until midnight and will be disassembled Monday.



The Vietnam Wall Experience


11 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday ---- arrives in Oceanside

8 a.m. Wednesday ---- assembly begins

Thursday ---- educational visits for students

Noon Friday ---- opening ceremony

7 p.m. Saturday ---- candlelight ceremony

5 p.m. Sunday ---- closing ceremony

8 a.m. Monday ---- disassembly begins


Donations to help cover the costs of the Oceanside visit can be mailed to the Armed Services YMCA, P.O. Box 555028, Building 16144, Camp Pendleton, CA 92055-5028. Checks should include the note "for Vietnam wall."

Contact staff writer Phil Diehl at (760) 943-2314 or pdiehl@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/18/military/17_43_594_17_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

Vietnam wounds still healing 30 years later

By: GIG CONAUGHTON - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- Next weekend, when visitors line up to see a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and perhaps touch some of the 58,282 names etched into its smooth, black face, they likely will witness an extraordinary outpouring of emotion.

"It will dawn on you that the Wall heals a lot of people," Vietnam veteran and San Diego resident Al Pavich said last week, referring to the memorial's nickname. "I think they should change the name to 'The Healing Wall.' "

But what visitors won't see ---- what those who didn't live during the Vietnam era may not understand ---- is the palpable hurt that memories of the Vietnam War still inflict, and why a generation still needs something like the Wall to help it heal.


The war that changed America

The Vietnam War was the only war America ever lost. It was never officially declared, but it was the longest war in U.S. history, and a conflict that, with the exception of the Civil War, split Americans and scarred the country more than any other ---- pitting families against each other, young against old, the public against its political leaders, and even military veterans against each other.

Vietnam was part and parcel of the 1960s and early '70s, a decade-plus that changed America's world:

A time when America, just 15 years after becoming the world's reigning superpower and confident champion of democracy with the end of World War II, was forced to question the limits and responsibilities of its new role;

A time that started with the smiling idealism of John Kennedy's Camelot and shriveled into the sweaty, paranoid frown of Richard Nixon's Watergate.

Vietnam was the domino theory; keeping the world free from communism; the draft; draft dodgers; the peace movement; marches on Washington; National Guardsmen killing four student protesters at Kent State; the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention; LBJ; Bobby Kennedy; Martin Luther King; the My Lai massacre; carpet bombing; body counts; secret wars; the Pentagon Papers; the fall of Saigon.

Gulf of Tonkin

Vietnam exploded into America's consciousness 40 years ago when President Lyndon Baines Johnson interrupted prime-time TV viewers in August 1964 to announce that three torpedo boats from tiny, communist North Vietnam had attacked a U.S. destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin.

The United States had been minimally involved in Vietnam since the mid-1950s, sending financial aid and small numbers of military advisers. The prevailing belief was that if South Vietnam fell to the North Vietnamese communists, backed by Russia and China, the rest of Indochina would fall to communism "like dominos."

The U.S. government's secret history of the war, the Pentagon Papers, later discredited the Gulf of Tonkin incident, suggesting that it was made up to give the president an excuse to enter Vietnam.

But in 1964, the incident convinced Congress to give Johnson special powers allowing him to wage all-out war in Vietnam, without a formal declaration of war, to prevent a communist takeover.

Within a year, the United States had sent its first combat troops and started "carpet bombing."

The plan was not to invade North Vietnam, or to install a democratic government there, which would risk war with Russia and China. The plan was simply to stop the communist takeover of South Vietnam.

American military and political leaders believed that North Vietnamese aggression would eventually wilt when faced with U.S. force.

But that never happened. By the end of 1965, the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam reached 200,000. By 1968, more than 540,000 U.S. troops were fighting in Vietnam, a country slightly larger than New Mexico.

Vietnam became a "quagmire."

American troops found themselves enmeshed in a war with a confusing military objective, defending themselves against unfamiliar guerrilla tactics in battles with no distinct lines and in a foreign country filled with anti-U.S. sentiment, where allies looked just like the enemy.

Support erodes

American leaders tried to say the war was being won. But the numbers of flag-draped coffins and maimed survivors returning home kept rising.

In 1965, 1,863 U.S. soldiers were killed, according to National Archive statistics. In 1968, 16,592 troops were killed ---- nearly 10 times 1965's number. Thousands more were horribly wounded. Vietnamese casualties were even higher.

The message that the war was being won also seemed to contradict the images of mayhem and destruction people saw on television.

"It was in people's living rooms night after night," said San Diego State University political science professor George Bergstrom, who was in the Air Force for a portion of the war but served in Korea. "It was the first real war that (the media) was able to do that."

Historians say the communists' January 1968 Tet Offensive was particularly troubling to American viewers. Before the battle, the Johnson administration and military commanders said communist forces were weakening and the war could be won. And the communist sneak attack was actually repelled.

But Americans watching TV news saw pictures of a furious communist battle inside several supposedly secure South Vietnamese cities ---- including the American Embassy in Saigon. They also watched a U.S. ally ---- a South Vietnamese general ---- execute a North Vietnamese prisoner by shooting him point-blank in the head.

Draft dodgers, peace marches

As the body count rose, military leaders called for more troops, and the war effort seemingly continued to go nowhere, America's once-small peace movement grew.

In 1965, 25,000 antiwar protesters, mostly students, marched on Washington, D.C.

A 1967 protest reached 100,000. Around the same time, civil rights leader Martin Luther King denounced the war as a "dishonorable and unjust" persecution of the Vietnamese, uniting the civil rights and anti-war movements.

In 1969, more than 250,000 staged the largest anti-war demonstration in the nation's capital.

Hundreds of thousands of protesters showed up to picket at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and bloody riots ensued when overzealous police tried to disperse them.

By the early 1970s, some returning veterans also joined the peace movement and dumped medals on the White House lawn.

At the same time, more and more young men legally avoided being drafted and sent to Vietnam by entering college to get deferments or joining the National Guard. In some cases, they left the United States for sanctuary in Canada and other places. National Archive records state that about 15.4 million men got deferments, 2.1 million served, and 570,000 resisted the draft.

In one of the cruelest outcomes of the war, many Americans made returning Vietnam veterans the targets of their anger and hatred for a war they saw as increasingly unjust and immoral.

Vietnam veteran Pavich, who served two tours of duty with the U.S. Navy, last week vividly recalled coming home from his first tour of duty in 1969 at the age of 19, and being greeted at El Toro by demonstrators.

"They just literally attacked (us)," he said. "It was a riot. It wasn't a peace march. I never thought America would do that. People spit on you and ridiculed you. We were ordered not to wear our uniforms in public because it was too dangerous. Can you believe that?"

Richard Nixon promised to scale back the war after he was elected president in 1968 through "Vietnamization," a plan that would gradually bring U.S. troops home while training South Vietnamese forces to take over the fight.

Disillusionment

But America's disillusionment grew.

In 1969, the public learned about the My Lai massacre, where American troops under the command of Lt. William Calley killed hundreds of unarmed civilians, including women and children, the year before. Calley was court-martialed and found guilty of murder.

continued.......

[thedrifter]

In May 1970, National Guardsmen shot and killed four student anti-war protesters at Kent State University in Ohio after protesters hurled rocks and bottles. Days later, protests and riots closed more than 100 colleges nationwide.

In 1971, defense analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times. The 7,000 pages of documents and notes showed that four U.S. presidents ---- Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon ---- had repeatedly lied to the public about Vietnam, how much money was spent, how many troops there were, the nature of the battles, and how long the war could take.

Included in the lies was Nixon's secret 1969 decision to bomb then-neutral Cambodia, even as troops were being brought home.

In 1972, with public opinion set on getting out of Vietnam, Nixon angered Congress and the public by re-escalating the war, ordering heavy bombing of North Vietnam in an attempt to force concessions in peace talks.

In January 1973, the United States signed a peace treaty in Paris with North Vietnamese leaders, and the last American troops were brought home.

In 1975, the war finally ended when communist forces took Saigon and unified the country.

In all, more than 58,000 Americans and 2 million Vietnamese were killed.

In 1977, President Jimmy Carter pardoned some 10,000 draft dodgers in an attempt to heal the war's still-lingering wounds.

Finally, in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ---- the Wall ---- was commissioned.

Contact staff writer Gig Conaughton at (760) 739-6696 or gconaughton@nctimes.com.


http://www.nctimes.com/content/articles/2004/04/19/news/top_stories/21_11_154_18_04a.jpg

A Marine staff sergeant from the 3rd Marines during a search and clear operation in Vietnam in the Mai Loc area near the Laotian border. Photo taken by NCT staff photographer, Waldo Nilo in 1968.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/19/news/top_stories/21_11_154_18_04.txt


Ellie

[thedrifter]

A memorial like no other

By: GARY WARTH - Staff Writer
Editor's note: This is part of a series of stories leading up to Friday's opening in Oceanside of the touring Vietnam Wall Experience, a three-quarter -size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

A hole in the ground. A black tombstone. A shameful disgrace.

Those were just a few of the names attached to the design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial when it was proposed by a 21-year-old Yale student.

Twenty-two years later, the memorial is the most-visited monument in Washington, D.C., and its creator, Maya Lin, is recognized as one of the nation's most respected artists.

The memorial began through the efforts of one man, Jan Scruggs, who at 19 returned wounded from Vietnam to a country that seemed to be paying little interest to its returning veterans.

Determined to create a memorial for his fellow veterans, Scruggs formed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund in 1979 while working for the U.S. Department of Labor, using what little money he could afford as the initial investment.

Congress authorized the memorial in 1980, and that October the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund announced a $20,000 nationwide design competition open to any citizen 18 years or older, the first such contest of its kind.

Competition guidelines called for the memorial to be harmonious with the surroundings, be free of political statements and, at Scruggs' insistence, to bear the names of the 58,235 Vietnam veterans who were killed or missing.

The eight judges had to consider more than 1,400 entries, including one from Lin, who reportedly had first modeled her design with mashed potatoes in Yale's dining hall. Their decision was unanimous, but not necessarily popular.

Ross Perot, who had contributed $160,000 for the competition, hated Lin's design. Illinois Congressman Henry Hyde wrote to President Reagan in protest, calling the design "a political statement of shame and dishonor."

Some detractors used racist and sexist slurs against Lin, who retreated from publicity and took a job working for a Boston architect after college.

Lin's parents are from China, which they fled in the late 1940s when the communists came to power, but she was born in Athens, Ohio, in 1959. Her father was a potter and had taught her to sculpt, and both parents were faculty members at Ohio University.

As a Yale undergraduate studying funerary (burial) architecture, Lin learned about the memorial competition and visited its Washington, D.C., site with two classmates.

Lin declined to be interviewed for this story, but in an interview with the Washington Post, Lin said the idea for the monument "just popped into my head" during her visit to the site.

Criticism of the design eventually subsided after a hearing on the project in early 1982, when Army Gen. Michael Davison suggested a compromise: A traditional bronze statue of three Vietnam vets by Washington sculptor Frederick Hart was added near the site in 1984.

What may really have quieted the critics, however, was Lin's memorial itself. Once it was built, visitors realized its full impact. Every day since its dedication on Veterans Day 1982, people have wept at finding a name they recognize, left flowers behind and taken rubbings of the wall's engravings.

"The Wall had a huge impact," said Kim McConnell, a professor in the Visual Arts Department at UC San Diego. "It's an extremely powerful piece. It was really kind of taking a very modernist notion of what a memorial could be."

While two-dimensional renderings of the wall may have left some people cold, McConnell said, when people see it in person, its impact is finally realized.

"I don't think there's anybody who doesn't visit the memorial itself who doesn't feel the power of the piece," he said. "It appears to be not really anything when you approach it. There's just this landscape. There's an introduction as you come up to it, and a line of marble that tends to grow until it's way over your head. And it's an imposing piece because of that. It's very understated, and that's the brilliance of her design."

While Lin's piece may have redefined the concept of public memorials, it didn't alter them forever, said McConnell, who noted that the new World War II memorial in Washington, D.C., is very traditional.

Lin today works in a New York studio, which was described as "Spartan" in a review of the 1995 Oscar-winning documentary, "Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision." Lin reportedly still prefers working with clay and pencils over three-dimensional software, and a staffer at her studio last week apologized for not being able to supply a digital photo of Lin because their e-mail was not working.

Since going from graduate student to overnight sensation in 1980, Lin has had a varied and successful career.

In 1988, the Southern Poverty Law Center contacted her to create the Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala. The memorial is a solid granite disk engraved with names and events from the civil rights movement, combined with a 9-foot granite wall inscribed with a quotation from Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech: "Until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream."

Both pieces are covered with a thin stream of running water that runs over visitors' hands when they touch the inscription.

"Active participation involves the viewer in a direct and intimate dialogue with the work," Lin wrote about her art in her 2000 book, "Boundaries."

Not wanting to be associated only with monuments, Lin branched out. She renovated portions of a new Museum of African Art in New York, designed private residences and sculpted a statue commemorating women at Yale University.

At Ohio State University, Lin designed a three-level garden of crushed green glass in 1993 using 40 tons of recycled glass piled into waves. The next year, she designed a 14-foot-long clock for Pennsylvania Station in New York, and in 1995 she created The Wave Field, a series of grassy hills that resemble waves, at the University of Michigan.

In 2002, she created a sculpture for the new Minneapolis Client Service Center, and recently she designed a new building for Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, N.Y., a $5 million-a-year business that supports the poor and disenfranchised.

In her most commercial venture, Lin has created a collection of furnishings for Knoll Inc. One line, Stones, featured low stools and tables cast in Fiberglas-reinforced concrete. Another line, called "The Earth is (Not) Flat," was inspired by the curvature of the Earth and included the Longitude chaise lounge and the Equator table and chairs.

Coming full circle, last year Lin was a judge in a national memorial competition. She was one of 13 members on the World Trade Center Site Memorial Competition. Like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the winning design, Reflecting Absence, will contain the names of the people who were lost.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at gwarth@nctimes.com or (760) 740-5410.

The Vietnam Wall Experience

11 to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday ---- arrives in Oceanside

8 a.m. Wednesday ---- assembly begins

Thursday ---- educational visits for students

Noon Friday ---- opening ceremony

7 p.m. Saturday ---- candlelight ceremony

5 p.m. Sunday ---- closing ceremony

8 a.m. Monday ---- disassembly begins

* Donations to help cover the costs of the Oceanside visit can be mailed to the Armed Services YMCA, P.O. Box 555028, Building 16144, Camp Pendleton, CA 92055-5028. Checks should include the note "for Vietnam wall."

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Ellie

[thedrifter]

Vietnam Wall replica comes to town ---- with a colorful escort

By: ROB O'DELL - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- Accompanied by the snorts and snarls of more than 60 chrome-and-steel hogs, a touring replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., rolled into Oceanside on Tuesday.

Fit snugly into a red, white and blue semitrailer, the replica was escorted to its set-up site across from the Oceanside Municipal Pier by Harley Davidson-riding former Marines and other veterans draped in leather and the Stars and Stripes.

For me, Vietnam was something I had to bury right when I got home (from the war)," said Ken Kane, a former platoon sergeant in Vietnam who lives in Vista. "I pretended like it never happened."


Kane said that riding into town as part of the motorcade with fellow veterans and former soldiers and Marines gave him the comradery he has missed for decades. He said it was the first time he could be open and truthful about his feelings since he returned from the war, adding that the ride was a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"I felt I needed to do it," Kane said. "I got the sense of being welcome back home for the first time."

The replica, known as the Vietnam Wall Experience, will be on display in Oceanside for three days starting Friday. The Wall is a three-quarter-size replica of the 10-foot-tall, 493-foot-long, black-granite monument in Washington, D.C., that was designed by artist Maya Ying Lin.

It's the largest of three traveling replicas.

Jim Brunotte, a veteran who lost his legs and part of his arm when he ran over a land mine with his Jeep in Vietnam, said he got goose bumps and chills when he saw the motorcade lead the Wall to its beachfront location. The riders pulled into an adjacent lot and circled several times before stopping to have a group photograph taken in front of the semitrailer.

Brunotte said the Wall can help veterans cope with the emotional toll of the war, adding that the name of one of his good friends ---- a passenger in the Jeep that hit the land mine ---- is on the Wall.

"I've found that some (war veterans) are more wounded on the inside than ... on the outside," Brunotte said. "The emotional (wounds) ---- they get buried."

The memorial will open with ceremonies at noon Friday and remain open round-the-clock until midnight Sunday. The opening ceremony will feature bands, tributes and guest speakers. There will be a candlelight vigil at 7 p.m. Saturday, and a closing ceremony at 5 p.m. Sunday ---- although it will remain open to the public until midnight that night.

Created in 1990, the replica has a mirrorlike, black, faux-granite finish and features the names of the more than 58,000 dead and missing in Vietnam. It has visited more than 200 cities and been seen by millions of people.

"It's really an emotional thing ---- you don't realize it," said Carlsbad's Cheryl Cooke, whose husband was one of the bikers who led the Wall to its downtown site.

Cooke's eyes began to water as she talked about the significance of the Wall.

"I'm teary-eyed," Cooke said of seeing the veterans leading the truck down to the site. "It's really something."

Bill Weyers, a former Marine sergeant who served in Vietnam, said he felt the ride was necessary to show support for all of America's veterans, including the new and soon-to-be veterans of the war in Iraq. Weyers said his cousin's name is on the Wall. He said his cousin died on his 20th birthday.

"We want to let everybody know we're behind our troops," Weyers said. "We want all the guys in Iraq to know we're supporting them by being here."

The 60-plus bikers rode to the Las Pulgas exit on Camp Pendleton to meet the semitrailer truck hauling the Wall. The bikers lined up in a long row under the overpasses, mulling and socializing in their leather gear, before starting up their hogs to lead the truck south on Interstate 5 to Mission Avenue. The motorcade then took Mission Avenue to Myers Street, and headed to the site off Pier View Way.

Many of the bikers were members in the Biggs Chapter of the Harley-Davidson Club, with most riders from North County. Many bikers were Vietnam veterans, but a large number of others were former Marines and other U.S. veterans who served in other conflicts.

Doug Ferris, a former Marine dressed in leather and denim and sporting a long goatee of curly hair, said he was proud to help bring the replica Vietnam Wall to Oceanside.

"I've never seen the actual Wall," Ferris said before the motorcade pulled out from the Las Pulgas exit. "To be able to escort it into town will be a great feeling."

Vietnam veteran Lonnie Long said he hoped the Wall would help heal some of the pain caused by the politics and complexity of the Vietnam War, and the fact that many veterans were never acknowledged for doing their duties.

"The significant meaning of the wall to veterans ... is it commemorates the loss of life," Long said. "It commemorates those who we still don't know their fate."

Contact staff writer Rob O'Dell at (760) 901-4067 or rodell@nctimes.com.

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A motorcade escorts the truck containing the Vietnam Memorial replica in downtown Oceanside Tuesday morning.

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Ellie

[thedrifter]

For Vietnam veterans, a chance to heal





Replica of memorial arrives in Oceanside
By Lola Sherman
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
April 21, 2004



OCEANSIDE – Sometime during the next few days, Jim Brunotte will visit the Vietnam Wall Experience and place a memento on Line 52 of Panel 42.

That line bears the name of Robert Alicea, one of more than 58,000 inscribed on the replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., that is in town through Sunday.

Brunotte lost three limbs in Vietnam. His buddy, Alicea, lost his life. In all the years since, the Vista man figures, he has visited the real memorial or a replica 20 times. Always, he has laid a flower, a flag, a saying – something – at Alicea's name.

It's a way for those still scarred by the war to heal, said Brunotte, the regional director for Point Man Ministries, a national organization that helps Vietnam veterans. "There's an emotional attachment you would not believe."

Brunotte was there yesterday morning when about 100 motorcycles escorted the Vietnam Wall Experience into Oceanside from Corona del Mar, where it was on display last weekend after opening its traveling season the previous weekend in Monrovia.

This is the 14-year-old replica's first visit to Oceanside, although it stopped in San Diego in 1996. Its next stop on the 19-city itinerary will be Baton Rouge, La., on May 7.

Bill Hosmer of Carlsbad, another Vietnam War veteran who welcomed the truck containing the replica to Oceanside, said it is one of four that tour the country.

"It still hurts if you knew somebody (who died in Vietnam)," he said, noting that visitors often are widows and children of those who died.

The wall replica, which is three-fourths the size of the real one, is owned by Dignity Memorials, an association of cemetery, mortuary and funeral-home operators. Its visit to Oceanside was requested by Eternal Hills Memorial Park, although, contrary to common practice, it is not being set up on cemetery land.

The wall, which is 240 feet long and 8 feet high, is to be erected today on vacant property at Pacific Street and Pier View Way. It will be open to the public this afternoon. Admission is free.

Schoolchildren will visit the site tomorrow, and opening ceremonies are set for noon Friday. A candlelight service will be held at 7 p.m. Saturday, with closing ceremonies at 5 p.m. Sunday.

The Vietnam Wall Experience will be open to visitors 24 hours a day through midnight Sunday. Brunotte said some veterans prefer to visit in the dark and do their healing privately.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Lola Sherman: (760) 476-8241; lola.sherman@uniontrib.com

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20040421/images/2004-04-21wall.jpg

EDUARDO CONTRERAS / Union-Tribune
Mike Harris (right) hugged fellow veteran Doug Ferris yesterday after the Vietnam Wall Experience reached Oceanside. At left is Harris' wife, Claudia.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20040421-9999-1mi21wall.html


Ellie

[Sparrowhawk]

While visiting the replica of the wall is an experience, not soon forgotten.

It can never take the place in the heart of the Vietnam Veteran as the wall in Washington, D.C. can.

I have visited both.

But, the wall in D.C. has an awesome and powerful spiritual attraction to those who have served that it is a must for those who have served to visit.

Just my thoughts.

Cook

[thedrifter]

Replica of Vietnam Veterans Memorial opens to visitors Friday

By: ADAM KAYE - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- In a matter of hours Wednesday, volunteer workers unloaded and bolted together 240 feet of history.

A traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has taken shape at Pacific View Street and Pier View Way.

Called "The Vietnam Wall Experience," the three-quarter-size model of the original monument in Washington, D.C., will be open to visitors in Oceanside from Friday through Sunday.


The 15-year-old replica of the black-granite memorial crisscrosses the country, riding inside a 48-foot-long trailer. The tractor that pulls the trailer is driven by Harry Hooper, 76, a former Army quartermaster and funeral director from Whitwell, Tenn.

Hooper doubled as a foreman Wednesday in instructing workers on how to piece together 48 panels of fiberglass and steel and the wooden deck on which they're mounted.

"Once it all gets started," Hooper said, "it's just like a jigsaw puzzle."

The formation of the angle-shaped Wall starts at its center, where workers raise rectangular pieces upright.

Each numbered panel fits snugly into a steel sleeve attached to heavy sections of decking. Using pry bars and wooden shims, workers brought color-coded bolt holes into alignment, and into the holes went shiny, new bolts that workers fitted and secured with nuts.

Still more support came from steel triangles bolted to the back sides of the panels. Heavy straps hooked to steel stakes provided a final measure of strength.

"When you get it all up, it's all one piece," Hooper said. "It's been through a couple of hurricanes."

Hooper monitored progress from an electric cart he hauls in his trailer. Before long, workers had established a rhythm.

When one piece stood tall and fast, workers hollered to two men stationed inside the red-white-and-blue trailer to bring them another.

About half of two dozen volunteers assembling The Wall were members of the North County Chief Petty Officers Association. Senior Chief Petty Officer Mick Ruiz, 38, is the association's president.

"This is a good thing," Ruiz said after erecting a panel emblazoned with hundreds of names printed in half-inch-tall type.

The replica bears the names of 58,219 men and women who were killed or lost during the Vietnam War. More than a dozen names are expected to be added next year.

"These are sons and daughters," Ruiz said. "Brothers and sisters."

Eight names on The Wall are especially significant for Hooper, who said he buried eight "boys" (soldiers) from his Tennessee town when he worked as an embalmer.

Hooper said Wednesday's setup in Oceanside is the 73rd he has overseen in four years of hauling The Wall.

At each stop, all kinds of people help assemble the installation, he said.

"We get prisoners," Hooper said. "We use anyone who's willing to help us."

Also on display at the ocean view lot across the street from the Oceanside Municipal Pier are a dozen Vietnam-era military vehicles, courtesy of the Camp Pendleton Mechanized Museum, said Master Gunnery Sgt. James King.

Since 1990, the Vietnam memorial replica has traveled to more than 200 cities and millions of people have gazed upon its shiny surface.

Artist Maya Ying Lin designed the original Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the National Mall, which stretches across 493 feet and is more than 10 feet tall. It was dedicated in 1982.

Since then, the memorial has been expanded to include two other installations, the Three Servicemen Statue and the Vietnam Women's Memorial.

In Oceanside, starting at noon Friday, the replica of The Wall will remain open through midnight Sunday.

An opening ceremony will include speakers, bands and tributes. Doves will be released to commemorate the men and women of the military who have died during the war in Iraq.

Also planned during the memorial's stay are a candlelight vigil Saturday night, and a 21-gun salute and the playing of taps Sunday night.

The Houston-based Dignity Memorial and its Oceanside affiliate, Eternal Hills Memorial Park, are sponsoring the replica's visit.

Cash donations and volunteer workers are welcome. For more information, call (760) 385-4921.

Hooper said he delivers The Wall from town to town because he wants to.

"These fellows didn't get no respect when they came home," Hooper said. "They'll get some now."

Contact staff writer Adam Kaye at (760) 943-2312 or akaye@nctimes.com.

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Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Mick Ruiz of Vista stabilizes a wall panel from The Vietnam Wall Experience that is being set up Wednesday in Oceanside.



Ellie

[thedrifter]

Veterans serve as classroom teachers for the day

By: LOUISE CANNON - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- Most school-age children study the Vietnam War somewhere between Kennedy's Cuban missile crisis and Nixon's Watergate scandal in their U.S. history textbooks.

But on Thursday, the lesson became real for hundreds of local students who were given a sneak peek at the touring, three-quarter-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial while listening to war stories from veterans in rustled and threadbare Army fatigues.

School buses and minivans were lined up and parked all day Thursday along Pier View Way and Pacific Street, where the "Vietnam Wall Experience" will open to the public at noon today and remain open round-the-clock through midnight Sunday.


The students, from wide-eyed fifth-graders to more mature high school seniors, were invited to visit the memorial a day early. Before cruising the platform paralleling the seemingly endless wall of names, students sat in bleachers listening to brief lectures from Vietnam veterans.

Some veterans-turned-teachers used what were jokingly referred to as "cheat sheets" on Vietnam War timelines as part of the history lesson, and some told personal stories about their buddies whose names are now carved on the glistening black panels of the memorial.

It was a day many students ---- who may never make it to Washington, D.C., to see the real thing ---- said they aren't likely to forget.

"This experience, hearing the stories, seeing the wall, I've never done that before," said Krystille Souza, an 11th-grader at the School of Business and Technology in Oceanside. "I really wanted to come here and see this and understand (the Vietnam War) more."

Nick Wilkie, a fifth-grader at Calavera Hills Elementary School in Carlsbad, said he'll always remember the day he made his first crayon-and-paper rubbing of the name of his grandfather Quinlan Roberts Orell, a Navy fighter pilot who died Oct. 13 ,1968.

"My mom told me about the story of my grandfather," said Nick, 10, while waiting for volunteers to help him find his grandfather's name, etched somewhere in the sea of inscribed names on Panel 41. "I can really look up to him."

Ten-year-old Megan Heil, another Calavera Hills fifth-grader, said she is not related to anyone on the wall but was moved by seeing a few listed with her last name and some with last names of people she knows.

"It's weird to see those names," she added, moments after learning that the majority of the names on the wall are those of 20-year-olds who lost their lives in Vietnam. "And then I see my reflection in the wall and see that it could be someone like me. In 10 years I could go to some war."

Teachers interviewed said Thursday's field trip was the best complement to a history class.

"When they read about this in a book, it's not as real. Children are more visual learners," said fifth-grader teacher Sally Estep, who accompanied 65 students from Calavera Hills Elementary.

"To hear someone's voice crack when they talk about the war, to see a man in a wheelchair with no legs and one arm ... that makes it a reality to these students," she said, referring to Jim Brunotte, a Vietnam veteran in a motorized wheelchair who was among the dozens giving guided tours of the memorial Thursday. "It also teaches them compassion."

Brunotte told students how he was left with one limb after he drove his Army jeep over a hidden land mine late in 1968 in Vietnam. The name of Army Pfc. Robert Alicea, who was also in the jeep, is now in fine capitalized type on Panel 42.

Don Dodson, another veteran who gave lectures and tours, said he hopes the classroom field trips helped students connect to history.

"I know it sounds like a long time ago to these students," he said. "It's about as far removed as the Civil War is to us. They're seeing that to us, today, this is a memorial. It could have been one of our names there."

Dodson told students to think of those who served and not the politics of the war when looking at the wall.

"We were a generation whose government sent us over there to fight and we went," he said. "Don't blame the soldier or the Marine ---- blame the politician."

Vietnam veteran Ray Flores said he hopes students learned a little bit about the cost of freedom and sacrifice.

"Hopefully, this will help make an impression on these kids on how good it is to live in this country and to have these freedoms," Flores said.

To some, that message was loud and clear.

"Seeing all the names up there is like somebody grabbing you and shaking you and telling you how lucky you are to be alive," said 17-year-old Jessi Walters, a senior at the School of Business and Technology, who was crying before the memorial.

Contact staff writer Louise Cannon at (760) 901-4151 or lcannon@nctimes.com.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/23/news/top_stories/20_18_264_22_04.txt

Ellie

[thedrifter]

Computers look at the wall and find unusual information

By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- There are many ways to view the names listed on the Vietnam War Memorial. Usually, people seek the names of their friends and loved ones among the 58,235 carved into the monument's smooth black surface.

But researchers have also begun to look at those same names collectively, using computerized methods to sift through thousands of demographic records.

What follows are two lists of statistical data on the Vietnam War gathered by two independent research projects. The first is compiled by The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall Page, an Internet Web site that maintains detailed records on each Vietnam category from various official military records. The full list can be found at www.thewall-usa.com.


The second list was created as the basis for a documentary film series, "The Long Way Home Project." Documentary researchers combed through assorted government records, including the National Archives, Department of Defense casualty records, Labor Department statistics, records on file with the Department of Veterans Affairs and National Personnel Records to build a statistical picture of the men and women who served and died in Vietnam.

This list is abbreviated. The complete list of statistics can be found at: www.longwayhome.net/references.htm

Memorial Wall statistics:



Beallsville, Ohio (pop. 475) gained unwanted national notoriety between 1966 and 1971 by suffering the largest per capita loss of life in the Vietnam War. Six young men died.


West Virginia suffered the highest casualty rate in the nation, according to the Department of Defense. The state had 711 casualties ---- 39.9 deaths per 100,000 people.


The youngest U.S. military man killed in Vietnam is believed to be Dan Bullock, who reportedly lied about his age to enlist in the Marine Corps. He was 15.


At least five men killed in Vietnam were 16 years old.


At least 12 men killed in Vietnam were 17 years old.


The oldest man killed was 62 years old.


Veterans killed on their first day in Vietnam: 997.


Veterans killed on their last scheduled day in Vietnam: 1,448.


Number of chaplains on the wall: 16 (2 Medal Of Honor).


Number of women on the wall: 8 (7 Army, 1 U.S. Air Force ---- 7,484 had served).


Brothers: Charles L. Tank and Philip L. Tank of Ecorse, Mich., were killed in Vietnam, Charles on April 19, 1969, and Philip on Sept. 12, 1968. Brothers Kenneth F. Olenzuk and Paul G. Olenzuk were killed in Vietnam, Kenneth on Dec. 25, 1967, and Paul on Aug. 10, 1968.


Father and son: Richard B. Fitzgibbon Jr. was killed June 8, 1956, and his son, Richard B. Fitzgibbon III, was killed Sept. 7, 1965.


Leo Hester Sr. died March 10, 1967, in an aircraft crash. His son, Leo Hester Jr., was killed Nov. 2, 1969, also in an aircraft crash.


Number of living whose names are etched on the wall in error: 12.

Long Way Home statistics:


Vietnam Veterans represent 9.7 percent of their generation.


The United States had 9,087,000 military personnel serve on active duty during the Vietnam era (Aug. 5, 1964 to May 7, 1975).


Total deaths: 58,202.


Hostile deaths: 47,378.


Non-hostile deaths: 10,800.


Married men killed: 17,539.


Average age of men killed in Vietnam: 22.8 years old.


More 21-year-olds were killed than any other age group.


Amputation or crippling wounds to the lower extremities were 300 percent higher than in World War II and 70 percent higher than in Korea. Multiple amputations occurred at the rate of 18.4 percent compared with 5.7 percent in WWII.


Missing in action: 2,338.


Prisoners of war: 766 (114 died in captivity).


Twenty-seven million men came of draft age from 1964 to 1972.


Total draftees (1965-1973): 1,728,344.


Actually served in Vietnam: 38 percent.


Twenty-five percent (648,500) of total forces in country were draftees (In WWII, 67 percent were draftees; 33 percent were volunteers).


Draftees accounted for 30.4 percent (17,725) of combat deaths in Vietnam.


National Guard: 6,140 served; 101 died.


Last man drafted: June 30, 1973.


Eighty-six percent of the men who died in Vietnam were Caucasian (includes Latinos); 12.5 percent (7,241) were black; 1.2 percent belonged to other races.


One hundred and seventy thousand Latinos served in Vietnam: 3,070 (5.2 percent of total) died there.


Seventy percent of enlisted men killed were of Northwest European descent.


Twenty-six percent of combat deaths came from the families in the highest third of income levels.


Seventy-six percent of the men sent to Vietnam were from middle/working class backgrounds.


http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/23/news/top_stories/21_18_044_22_04.txt

Ellie

[MillRatUSMC]

Having been to the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C twice and viewing the Moving Walk twice and then working as a volunteer in August of 2002 in Merrieville, Indiana.
I was issued a Certificate of Appreciation with the word "Volunteer".
I was able to learn more of how the Vietnam Memorial was build and how the names are arranged.
Going back a little.
It was 1989, when I first went to see the Moving Wall in Lansing, Illinois, in the company of a co-worker, Steve Wilson.
He served with the 25th Army Infantry Division, he was also the son of the Plant Manager, who was way up there in upper management of my company.
When we got to where the Moving Wall.
An emotion hit me like a ton of bricks.
While in Nam, you suffer one killed here a couple there.
Hardest day, Hotel 2/1 a sister company of Golf 2/1, took 19 KIA and 14 WIA.
I think, you try to block out those deaths because if you dwell too much on them.
It would tear you up and you couldn't function.
But seeing all those names on that wall, about did me in.
The Moving Wall came to my hometown of Hammond, Indiana.
I took it in again.
Then in 2000, Captain John invited me to come to his home in Virginia for the "Evening Parade" and to go see the Vietnam Memorial.
So I was prepared to what I would be seeing.
2001 we had our CPX or Command Post Exercise in Quantico, Virginia.
We again took in the "Evening Parade" The Marine Memorial, Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial.
About that certificate, I did it for the love of my fellow Marines, who's names appear on the Vietnam Memorial and the Moving Wall.
Getting it was a unexpected, but appreciated...

Semper Fidelis/Semper Fi
Ricardo

[thedrifter]

Kids visit shrine of an earlier war <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
By Lola Sherman <br />
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER <br />
<br />
OCEANSIDE – Uriel Neal, 15, thanks the warriors of four decades ago for being willing to go to...

[thedrifter]

'These were my friends; I knew them well'

By: PAUL SISSON - Staff Writer

OCEANSIDE ---- Col. John Bates stood Friday before cool black austerity, releasing the names of his brothers to a gentle onshore breeze.

He read the names of his fellow Marines without showmanship or fanfare, just simple respect: "Kenneth Carl Johnson, John Kirby Johnson, Charles Minor Taylor III, Wayne E. Dawson, William J. O'Brien, Robert D. Draper, Patrick B. Hoppe, Larry G. Salisberry, Michael L. Trombley."

Bates saluted those names and explained their significance.

"These were my friends. I knew them well," Bates told about 1,000 people who attended Friday's opening ceremony for The Vietnam Wall Experience, a 240-foot-long, three-quarter-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.

"We walked the same ground," he added. "But they were much more than just friends. They are indeed, brothers. Each of their names are inscribed on this wall."

A diverse crowd attended the ceremony, some young, some old; many were veterans.

Here and there, active-duty Marines and sailors stood together, their pressed uniforms gleaming under a perfect cloudless sky. Children sat on their parents' laps next to leather-clad bikers wearing Marine Corps headbands and long gray beards.

After an honor guard of Oceanside firefighters marched in front of the crowd, the San Onofre School choir led the throng in the national anthem. Young and old found harmony together, their voices blending together like the long list of names on The Wall seen from a distance.

Judge David Carter, himself a Vietnam veteran and a Marine, took the podium when the song was finished, releasing a thunderous Hoo Rah into the microphone and getting a reply in kind from some of the hundreds of Marines and their families in the audience.

Carter told the crowd that he was glad the time has finally come for those who fought in Vietnam to reconcile their memories of loss and seek healing through remembrance and reflection.

"This memorial is so stark, yet so much a part of us," he said.

He added that the children in the audience, and those who did not serve their country during the war, can learn a lot by running their hand along The Wall's cool surface.

"You should know we on The Wall paid a price," he said.

Friday had a special significance for Oceanside Mayor Terry Johnson, who held up a color picture of Thomas Samuel Alfred of Oceanside when he spoke during the ceremony. Alfred, who is Johnson's first cousin, died April 23, 1968.

"Exactly 36 years ago today," Johnson said.

Organizers said the turnout for Friday's opening ceremony was a testament to the popularity of the traveling memorial wall, which came down the coast from Newport Beach on Tuesday. Harry Hooper, who drives The Wall from location to location, said he has never seen a turnout like the one he saw Friday.

"I haven't seen one this big in the four years that I've been doing this," Hooper said. "Average attendance at an opening ceremony is 150. This is by far the biggest one I've been to."

It takes a Marine who survived Vietnam to explain why so many showed up Friday in the early afternoon when most of the world is at work.

Toward the end of his speech, Col. Bates explained the significance of the Vietnam War Memorial as "a singular focus we can touch, a place where we can remember, and maybe even where we can forget."

"If you didn't fight in Vietnam, words cannot explain it," he said. "If you did ---- words are not necessary."

He added that visiting the memorial is necessary for anyone whose life was touched by Vietnam.

"We need to do this, and we will never forget them," he said. "Never. For our 'tomorrow,' our brothers gave their 'today.' "

Contact staff writer Paul Sisson at (760) 901-4087 or psisson@nctimes.com.



http://www.nctimes.com/content/articles/2004/04/24/news/top_stories/19_08_034_23_04.jpg

Colonel John Bates, United States Marine Corps, addressed the crowd at the opening ceremonies of The Vietnam Wall Experience held in Oceanside Friday.

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/04/24/news/top_stories/19_08_034_23_04.txt


Ellie

[greensideout]

I've seen the moving wall, never been to DC yet.

With that said---I don't come away from this thread with a good feeling---too much "real" garbage about the war and a slant that is not honoring to those on the wall in my view.