Community Corner
Vietnam War Memorial Seeks Photos for "The Wall"
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund wants a photograph for every name on "The Wall" in Washington, D.C. Here are the names of 20 men from Napa who gave their lives in the Vietnam War.
What if you could put a face to every name on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.?
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund hopes you can.
The National Call for Photos is a project organized by the VVMF to match a headshot or portrait photograph to every service member listed on The Wall, architect Maya Lin's iconic memorial to those killed in the Vietnam War.
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The pictures will be displayed in an exhibit at the future Education Center at The Wall, an underground visitors center to be built near the Vietnam Veterans and the Lincoln memorials.
Every day, the center will celebrate the birthdays of service members who died during the Vietnam War by featuring their photos on a giant digital wall.
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So far, 25,526 veterans have complete profiles with at least one photograph, according to George Pojani, a research associate at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. These profiles are currently featured on The Virtual Wall, an online database of the Memorial's veterans.
To locate photos for the project, contributors can visit www.vvmf.org/thewall and search for veterans who enlisted in their area. The VVMF recommends contacting family and friends of the veterans to find photographs or visit local libraries and search through yearbooks or newspaper obituaries.
Among the Napa area names on the VVMF website are:
TYSON VANCE BEALL CPL ARMY 1/20/1948-5/6/1969 RONALD ALLEN BEARDSLEY CPL ARMY 8/10/1947-10/31/1968 MICHAEL RICHARD BISHOP PFC ARMY 3/25/1948-12/16/1968 ROBERT HENRY BUEHLER PFC ARMY 9/5/1948-9/22/1968 MICHAEL ROY CLASEN HM3 NAVY 7/8/1946-8/25/1968 ROBERT LEE COONROD PFC ARMY 11/17/1943-8/28/1968 ARNOLD JAY FERRARI SSGT MARINE CORPS 8/7/1941 - 3/31/1968 JAMES PATRICK FRANCIS SSGT ARMY 10/28/1946-5/27/1969 STEVEN GARY HICKS SP4 ARMY 2/3/1948-5/22/1968 JACK DANIEL LANELLI SP5 ARMY 4/1/1945-8/31/1965 PATRICK DALE MORIARTY HMC NAVY 4/17/1930-3/9/1968 RICKY ALAN MYERS PFC ARMY 7/27/1947-1/29/1968 JERRY WAYNE OFSTEDAHL SGT ARMY 6/27/1949-8/13/1969 GARY WAYNE RODRIGUES SP4 ARMY 6/24/1945-5/5/1967 LAWRENCE ROBERT SHEPARD SGT ARMY 7/22/1949-5/12/1969 THOMAS JOSEPH SILVA SP4 ARMY 12/15/1948-4/3/1970 CHARLES HANSEN VESEY SGT MARINE CORPS 4/15/1946-4/20/1969 ROBERT ALWYN WILLIAMS CWO ARMY 7/15/1945-6/19/1969 EDWARD WARREN WOODRUFF PFC ARMY 4/28/1942-11/19/1966 DOUGLAS PAUL ZERBA PFC ARMY 9/14/1949-8/31/1970To submit a photograph, contributors should obtain a high quality scan of the image and post a remembrance at http://www.vvmf.org/remembrances. The VVMF will send an email to contributors when their photograph is posted with a matching profile.
Relatives of service members with complete profiles are encouraged to submit photographs to the VVMF, even if there is already a photo available.
Pojani says that the contributors to the National Call for Photos will help improve the visitor's experience at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
"It's a place where people can go back and find stories about all the casualties on the Wall," Pojani said about the future Education Center. "It will be more personal than just names on the Wall."
Elk Grove Patch and Napa Patch staff contributed to this report.
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