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thedrifter
01-23-09, 07:32 AM
A Veteran's Wish: Vietnam Memorial pays a special visit
BY BOB MAYES
Published: Friday, January 23, 2009 12:16 AM EST
Palatka Daily News

H

aven Hospice Registered Nurse Kay Holder wheeled 67-year-old Charles Trim up to the Vietnam War Traveling Memorial Wall on Thursday morning at Crestwood Nursing Home.

With one arm draped around the frail former U.S. Marine's neck, she used her free hand to etch from the wall the name of Thomas O'Neill, a comrade who had fallen beside Trim in battle.

Wearing a green Vietnam Veteran ball cap and with a small American flag strapped across his waist, Trim, with, an unsteady hand, accepted the tissue-like paper from Holder.

Crestwood and Hospice staff, members of local American Legion posts 45 and 293, the Cocoa-based traveling wall unit and Mayor Karl Flagg solemnly looked on, many of them dabbing at their eyes.

Emotion was evident and tears flowed from the faces of even many of the veterans, many of whom had served in Vietnam.

"About six weeks ago, I was in his room and he was telling his stories," Haven Hospice social worker Donna Maso said. "He said, 'The only thing that I wish I could do before I die is see the Vietnam Wall.'

"I asked him, if that could be arranged to be brought here, what would he do? He said, 'Ma'am, I would do everything I could to get out of this bed, and go down there and see it.'"

Maso immediately set off to see that he got that wish.

She began firing off e-mails to everyone she could think off, from Gov. Charlie Crist, to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson - anyone she thought could help.

Eventually, the request worked its way to the Florida Department of Veteran Affairs, which in turn got in touch with an organization called Vietnam and all Veterans of Brevard. That group agreed to bring a portion of the wall - including the panels of interest to Trim - to Palatka.

The Brevard County group - one of five independent organizations around the nation that manage traveling walls - regularly takes the walls to various veterans groups and patriotic outings in several southeastern states.

This was the first time the group brought the wall to a single veteran.

On Tuesday, in anticipation of the wall's visit, Trim, in a faint but steady voice talked about his days in 'Nam.

A native of Geneva, Ala., Trim enlisted in the Marines in the early 1960s, rose to the rank of sergeant and served in Vietnam from 1964-66.

Among the battles in which he was involved in, Trim said, were Operation Starlight and Operation A-Sting.

Starlight was a major skirmish. A military site on the Internet said it was "the first large-scale offensive conducted by the Marine Corps." Its mission was to prevent an attack on the Chu Lai enclave in South Vietnam, where Trim was stationed.

"A lot of my buddies died in those two operations," Trim said. "I've got a lot of friends on that wall."

Trim said he had several close encounters where he thought he might not make it.

"One time, I was going across a rice paddy and a mortar came over my head and landed behind me and knocked me flat," he said. "My white buddies kept on going, but a black man, Timothy Fussell, came along and scooped me up and carried me to safety.

"He was a good man, a good friend. He's dead now."

After returning to the States, he eventually settled down in Putnam County, married and had a family, spending 25 years working for Byrd Mobile Homes.

Like many Vietnam veterans, Trim said he had recurring nightmares. Now, he said, they occur only occasionally.

As he looked ahead to Thursday, Trim said he had no idea of how it was the wall was coming to see him.

"I've always had a dream about seeing the wall - I've had it for a bunch of years," he said.

Perhaps two dozen Putnam County veterans showed up, along with much of the Crestwood staff and Hospice therapists and aides who have been visiting him.

Mayor Karl Flagg, himself the son of a Marine, called Trim "a great American."

After a slide presentation, Holder slowly wheeled him to the wall, which was set up against one wall of the lobby.

"I found my buddies' names," Trim said softly to the nurse.

She pointed out O'Neill's name and he became emotional.

"I see it," he said and they lingered for a few minutes after she etched his name.

A few minutes later he was wheeled a few feet away.

He was asked if the wall had been everything he had hoped.

"It's more," was his simple response.

bmayes@palatkadailynews.com

Ellie