By By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Each name on The Wall That Heals has a story to tell, but the people whose names are listed that wall cannot tell their stories.
Instead, it’s up to the living to tell their stories and keep their names their memories alive.
That was one of the messages delivered during the opening ceremonies for the four-day visit of the half-size traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The replica, located at Veterans Memorial Park on East Third Street in the Original Washington, will be displayed around the clock through Sunday.
The wall commemorates the more than 58,000 member of the U.S. armed services who were killed during the Vietnam War.
“Now, this is sacred ground. This is truly sacred ground for this weekend,” said keynote speaker Walter Joseph Marm Jr., recipient of the Medal of Honor and a retired Army colonel, during the ceremonies.
Marm’s actions on Nov. 14, 1965, to help protect his platoon during a battle in Vietnam resulted in him being awarded the Medal of Honor. Marm was wounded during his actions, which included charging an enemy machine-gun position singlehandedly.
Marm, who lives in Fremont, said he proudly wears the Medal of Honor to show his respect for the many “unsung” members of the U.S. armed forces who also performed similar acts to protect their comrades in arms, some dying while doing so. For each Medal of Honor winner, there are many “unsung” heroes, he noted.
Marm said 264 U.S. military personnel who served in Vietnam received the Medal of Honor, some of them posthumously. Of that number, 154 have their names inscribed on the wall.
“Many Americans have been touched by these walls as they have traveled throughout the U.S.,” Marm said. “The names on the wall each have a story to tell.”
Each rank in the armed forces is represented on the wall, Marm said. The wall list the names of 1,609 North Carolinians killed in action in Vietnam and 43 North Carolinians listed as missing in action in Vietnam.
Allan Hoffman, news anchor for WNCT-TV in Greenville and a Vietnam veteran, read the names of 42 people from Beaufort County and surrounding counties who died in Vietnam. Among those names Hoffman read were Warren Lee Beacham, James Leroy Brown, Joseph Henry Downing Jr., Carl Frederick Hodges Jr., Gary Hoyt Leary and Paul Marion Nance Jr., all from Washington.
After each name was read, a bell tolled once to honor that person. After those names were read, people in the audience were given opportunities to mention the names of armed-services members they knew and who died in Vietnam.
The opening ceremonies included a ceremony to honor those who were prisoners of war or listed as missing in action during the Vietnam War.
“Each name has the right not to be forgotten by the nation he served,” said Martha MacDonald about the POWs and MIAs.
MacDonald specifically mentioned the name of Robert Milton Staten Jr., a Jamesville resident listed as missing in action.
Walter Corey, originally from Washington and an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, walked slowly along the wall after the opening ceremonies concluded, taking in the names listed on it.
“It is that we haven’t forgotten the fallen soldiers,” Corey said about what having the traveling wall in Washington means to him. “I knew one fellow on there. His name is Lt. Green.”
For Corey, fighting in the Vietnam War is something personal. That was part of Washington Mayor Archie Jennings’ message during his remarks at the opening ceremonies.
“For those of you who served, it’s personal for you,” Jennings said.
For those who lost loved ones in Vietnam, it’s personal for them, he noted.
“This community, if one thing can be said, appreciates its veterans,” Jennings said.
Bob Paciocco, who served as a Navy chaplain in Vietnam, said the wall has a special meaning for him. Paciocco, a retired minister and Washington resident, said he ministered to more than 400 people whose names are on the wall. He also knew Father Vincent Capodanno, a Medal of Honor recipient whose name is on the wall.
Capodanno replaced Paciocco, who served with Marines, as a chaplain in Vietnam. After replacing Paciocco, Capodanno got permission to go out with an Army unit that did not have a Catholic chaplain. Capodanno was killed while serving with that Army unit, according to Paciocco, who gave the opening and closing prayers at the opening ceremonies.