Putting faces to names on wall latest Vietnam memorial project

From Clarion Ledger.com: Putting faces to names on wall latest Vietnam memorial project

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., needs help putting faces to the names of the fallen.

The "Call for Photos" project announced Friday at the War Memorial Building in Jackson is a new partnership by the Mississippi Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

Friends, families and individuals can submit photographs of fallen servicemen and women. Photos will be displayed in the future Education Center, a multimedia learning facility at the Vietnam memorial.

"We can use this event today to encourage the other states to get the job done," memorial founder and Vietnam veteran Jan C. Scruggs
told the more than 100 people, many of them also veterans, gathered for the announcement.

Scruggs said construction could start in 2012 if the campaign raises enough funds.

Of the 58,272 men and women on the Vietnam wall, 637 are from Mississippi, according to the Department of Defense.

The Mississippi Vietnam Veterans Memorial has 32 additional names not listed on the DOD roster as casualties.

Brenda Jacobs of Booneville contributed a picture of her first husband, Army Sgt. Kenneth B. Carpenter, who died Jan. 2, 1968, in Vietnam.

"It's so heartwarming to me that they are willing to do this," Jacobs, 65, said. "I feel like a veteran because I went through every phase of the Vietnam War."

The "Call for Photos" project aims to include all the faces of war casualties from Mississippi and other states.

"We actually have over 20,000 photographs of the 58,000, so we're doing pretty good," Scruggs said.

The facility's exhibits also will include a selection of more than 150,000 items left at the memorial wall, a timeline of the Vietnam era and a history of the wall.

By receiving photos across the country, the Education Center will be able to honor the sacrifices made by those who died, those who fought and returned, as well as friends and families of those who served, organizers say.

This is especially helpful to the youth and future generations to learn more about those who served, they say.

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"This is a great day for our Vietnam veterans," said Col. Robert Thomas, assistant adjutant admiral for the Mississippi Army National Guard.

"Vietnam veterans have a substantial presence in the Mississippi National Guard. We still have several combat veterans of that era serving in the Guard today."

In 1995, the Mississippi Vietnam Veterans Memorial began collecting photographs as part of its memorial in Ocean Springs to display the faces of fallen soldiers.

"It's important that you remember the Mississippi Vietnam Veterans Memorial is meant to be a healing, teaching, living legacy for all Mississippians for generations to come," said Mississippi memorial president retired Air Force Lt. Col. Dick Wilson, a Vietnam veteran.

Wilson presented Scruggs with pictures of Mississippians for the Education Center.

At the War Memorial Building, visitors viewed information on the Education Center and photos of Mississippians featured on the virtual wall: Gregory Inman Barras of Jackson (died Dec. 18, 1968), Harold Van Cummings of Jackson (April 14, 1970), Richard Terry Smith of Gulfport (July 29, 1967), Sylvester Ellis of Columbus (May 6, 1970); Angus W. McAllister Jr. of Biloxi (Feb. 24, 1969) and William Thomas Mangum Jr. of Jackson (Feb. 17, 1968).

Mississippi has 38,220 veterans of the Vietnam War.