Wall stories

By ELBERT AULL, Portland Press Herald Writer

Copyright © 2006 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.

E-mail this story to a friend

Staff photo by John Ewing Sheryl Goodwin of Old Orchard Beach flies a Prisoner of War-Missing in Action flag Saturday at the wall replica in South Portland.

VOICES FROM THE MEMORIAL THE VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL REPLICA, which arrived at Southern Maine Community College on Tuesday, has attracted thousands since then, some of whom have shared their memories and observations with Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram reporters. These are a few of the sentiments expressed at the replica wall in the past few days: "Their names are here. It means they're not here on Earth. I'm so sorry . . . all alone in a country you don't know." Lilly PyleVietnam native who came to the United States in 1972 and volunteered to help bring a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to South Portland. "People don't realize how much this really means to veterans to see something like this. It's heart-wrenching. It chokes me up."Joseph ArmstrongVietnam veteran from Sanford WALL SCHEDULE TODAY: Closing ceremony, 1 p.m. MONDAY: Dedication and memorial ceremony at 11 a.m. at Evergreen Cemetery in Portland. Officials will bury a time capsule containing tributes left at the wall during the event. RELATED STORIES Wall stories Veteran needs no reminder of his time spent in Vietnam When visiting the wall, leave pomp and ceremony behind Wall a replica, but emotions, gratitude real Vietnam veterans memorial To top of story

SOUTH PORTLAND — Bertel Serfes of Portland had tried to go to the wall before. He'd gone as far as the book in Washington that tells visitors exactly where the names are listed, by panel and line, before turning back.

Serfes, 63, a veteran of 2 1/2 tours in Vietnam, could go no farther then. The scars were too raw.

He got there Friday.

He saw the names.

"It's cleansed me," said Serfes, a former Marine, on his second day at the replica memorial.

Thousands came to the campus of Southern Maine Community College on Saturday to see a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Washington, D.C., monument to more than 58,000 war dead that has become a reunion place for veterans since it opened 24 years ago.

Visitors waited in a line that began hundreds of feet from the entrance to the narrow walkway in front of the wall. They walked past the replica memorial, stopping to make pencil rubbings of the names of friends and relatives. They took photographs of small memorials left at the foot of the wall.

Most of the names Serfes came to see were those of a group of Marines attacked by North Vietnamese soldiers in 1966. He looked up Leroy Simons - Panel 6 East, Line 58 - a buddy from Ohio who died of gunshot wounds in Quang Ngai while Serfes tried to recover from the impact of a concussion grenade just a few feet away.

They were true friends, Serfes said.

Serfes was one of many Vietnam veterans at the replica wall Saturday. Some came in uniform; others wore caps and patches to proclaim their service.

Maj. Gen. John W. Libby said the "slight sadness" in the eyes of many veterans in attendance was what remained of the thousand-yard stare of so many Vietnam veterans who returned to the United States after their tours of duty.

Libby, who served there and is now the adjutant general of the Maine Army National Guard, described his feelings about the wall and the war during a midday remembrance ceremony. Katherine "Kitsy" Westmoreland, the widow of former Army Chief of Staff Gen. William Westmoreland, who oversaw military operations in Vietnam from 1964 to 1968, attended the ceremony.

Libby criticized the political leadership that he said kept the nation from fully committing to the war.

"Even the lowest privates could see the conflict was not fought in a way that it could be won," he said.

So, Libby said, men fought to survive. They counted the days until their tours of duty were over, then returned to a nation that either ignored or disrespected their service, he said.

"The wall has become our place of reunion," Libby said of Vietnam veterans.

Libby's speech struck a chord among the hundreds who attended the 1 p.m. ceremony. Some put their arms around those seated next to them. At least one man nodded emphatically as Libby spoke. Another put his head in his hands.

"The speech really hit home. . . . People are finally starting to understand what these guys went through," said Michael Barrett, 65, of Lewiston, whose best childhood friend died during a tour of duty with the Army in Vietnam.

Barrett's friend, Sgt. 1st Class George Dale, was one of the so-called "Magnificent Bastards" who died blocking the North Vietnamese army's attempt to invade South Vietnam during the Tet II offensive.

Barrett and his wife, Louise, volunteered to help with the display when a smaller replica of the memorial wall came to Lewiston about four years ago. They said volunteering was a moving experience.

"It does something to you," said Louise Barrett, 63.

Sheryl Goodwin, 53, of Old Orchard Beach held a red-on-black Prisoner of War-Missing in Action flag upright against the wind off Casco Bay after the ceremony. Goodwin, whose late husband served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, said she last took the flag to the replica wall a few years ago when it stopped in Daytona Beach, Fla.

She said her husband, Wayne Sylvester Goodwin, was a firefighter on the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1967. Goodwin said for veterans, the wall is a place for healing, for talking about the good and the bad and for sewing up old wounds.

"This helps them, when they come here," she said.

Staff Writer Elbert Aull can be contacted at 324-4888 or at:

eaull@pressherald.com