In this Times Leader file photo, Retired Lt Cl. Donna Nolter of Landsdale made the trip to The Wall That Heals in Plymouth on Saturday Sept. 7, 2019, to lay roses at the names of five members of her church, Trinity Lutheran, who died in Vietnam.
Times Leader file photo
Honoring Pennsylvanians who served, sacrificed in Vietnam War
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A visitor reads names on The Wall That Heals in Plymouth on Sept. 6, 2019.
Times Leader file photo
WILKES-BARRE — Maj. Gen. Mark Schindler, Pennsylvania’s adjutant general and head of the Pennsylvania Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), Monday said “a little over two million Americans served in uniform in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.”
Schindler said March 29 serves as National Vietnam War Veterans Day and the DMVA is honoring all Pennsylvanians who served in the Vietnam War as part of National Vietnam War Veterans Day.
The DMVA is an official partner in the Department of Defense’s Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War.
“This is a day set aside to publicly thank, honor and support our Vietnam veterans and their families for their incredible service and sacrifice,” Schindler said. “Today, we need to take time out of our own lives to remember theirs — those who have fallen, and those who are our neighbors, relatives, or community members. We want every Vietnam veteran to know just how much their bravery and sacrifices are appreciated — not just on March 29, but every day of the year.”
The Vietnam War Veterans Recognition Act of 2017 permanently designates that every year March 29 will be celebrated as National Vietnam War Veterans Day. It was on March 29, 1973, when combat and combat support units withdrew from South Vietnam.
In 2019, the last one of the 3,150 photos of Pennsylvanians who died in the Vietnam War was found and posted on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s (VVMF) virtual Wall of Faces. For four years, the DMVA partnered with the VVMF in Washington, D.C., to find a photo of every Pennsylvanian whose name appears on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall — commonly referred to as The Wall.
The VVMF has been posting the photos on the virtual Wall of Faces in order to put a face and a story to every name, allowing these Vietnam veterans to be honored by family, friends and others from around the world. Nationally, fewer than 80 photos are needed to complete the Wall of Faces.
Information about the remaining photos needed can be found at https://blogs.va.gov/VAntage/86048/virtual-wall-faces-almost-complete-needs-remaining-photos/.
Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.