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Saturday, August 12, 2006
Wall a replica, but emotions, gratitude real
Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||||||
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SOUTH PORTLAND — Greeted by spit and eggs when he returned from the Vietnam War, Joseph Armstrong of Sanford grew teary at the sight of crowds turning out for Friday's ceremony honoring veterans. More than 500 people converged on the seaside campus of Southern Maine Community College to see the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and to hear dignitaries read resolutions recognizing veterans. Armstrong watched the flyover by a P-3C Orion from Brunswick Naval Air Station and stood tall as a Navy squad fired rifles in salute. His lips trembled as a trumpeter played taps. "People don't realize how much this really means to veterans to see something like this," Armstrong said. "It's heart-wrenching. It chokes me up." Armstrong said the names of 11 of his friends are among the more than 58,000 listed on the replica. Eight feet tall and 240 feet long, the exhibit was created in 1990 by the Dignity Memorial group of funeral homes and cemeteries to bring the experience to people who could not travel to Washington, D.C. South Portland is the ninth stop for the wall this year. Next it goes to Madison, Conn. Locally, the exhibit was sponsored by the Jones, Rich & Hutchins Funeral Home and hosted by South Portland VFW Post 832. South Portland Mayor Maxine Beecher's voice broke up as she stood in front of the exhibit to speak to the audience. "I look at that wall and I'm reminded that we must never forget," said Beecher, whose oldest brother served three tours of duty in Vietnam. "We must never forget the sacrifice of those who died, and the families." Beecher read a proclamation making Aug. 11-13 Veterans Recognition Weekend. This afternoon there will be another ceremony of remembrance, and a candlelight ceremony in the evening. The closing ceremony is scheduled for Sunday. Gov. John Baldacci praised the exhibit, saying that Vietnam War veterans were not recognized enough for their contribution to the country. "Today, let's just hope this is a small step, a small token of gratitude and appreciation for our Vietnam War veterans and what they have done for all of us," Baldacci said to applause. The fact that Americans are fighting in Iraq as the war dead were being honored was not lost on Paula Bell, a California resident who was visiting the exhibit with siblings from Maine to honor a cousin who died when they were young. This year her son will be going to Iraq for his second tour. "I'm living it myself now - one generation later," Bell said. Mementos were left at the foot of different panels of the wall - a harmonica, photographs and letters, including one from a medic thanking a soldier who had taken a bullet for her. Debbie Henry was among those strolling slowly past the wall Friday when she noticed a rock with a butterfly sticker covered with the letters D.B.H. - the initials of her father, Daniel B. Henry, who died in Vietnam when she was 8. After the ceremony was over, she returned to the spot only to bump into her friend Jennifer Libby of Westbrook, who had placed the items there for Henry to see. "She always told me that when butterflies were around, they were a sign of my father being around," said Henry, a physical education teacher in Westbrook. Henry said viewing the replica was as powerful as seeing the actual monument in Washington. Armstrong agreed, having visited the monument for the 20 straight years he's been attending rallies organized by Rolling Thunder, a veterans group dedicated to finding prisoners of war and those missing in action. "It doesn't matter which wall it is," Armstrong said. "Each time you look at a name, whether it's here or on the actual wall, you still have that feeling of loss."
Staff Writer Josie Huang can be contacted at 791-6364 or at:
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