The voices changed, as did the names being spoken, but the feelings ran deep and true. Some emerged from the experience in tears while others were simply grateful for the opportunity to give something back to those who gave all.
Each person who took part in the Voices for the Wall event on Tuesday, however, felt an emotional jolt on some level. Memories of friends, loved ones and the turbulent times they survived 30-plus years ago all came flooding back.
Jim McNeely of Yankeetown brought the mobile recording studio for the Vietnam Veteran's Gathering Inc. to the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Inverness to give the members the chance to salute those U.S. servicemen and women who died during the Vietnam War.
The veterans group's mission is marvelously simple yet devastatingly poignant. For months, they have traveled around Citrus County getting volunteers to each read a list of 30 names that are engraved on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. The list is in chronological order, tracking the dates that each person was killed.
The voices then become part of a recording that will be played continuously when the Moving Wall, the traveling replica of the Vietnam Memorial, visits the Citrus County fairgrounds in November.
Seems simple enough, until you hold the sheet and begin reading. The very act of speaking the names gives these men new life and an individuality. They no longer are just statistics from a long-ago conflict, they become real people. They are sons, brothers, fathers, husbands. You wonder, what would their lives have been like had they somehow dodged that bullet, turned the other way when that mortar round hit?
Fred Clark emerged from the makeshift recording studio choking back tears. His thoughts were of three friends who lost their lives because of the war, including Brian Anderson. He and Clark had been best buddies since age 9 but Anderson went off to Vietnam and got doused by Agent Orange. He died at age 27. "We used to go hunting together," Clark recalled. "I haven't been hunting since."
A somber Arnold Virgilio wiped away tears after reading his list. In 1968-69, he served in Vietnam with the Army's 25th Infantry. "It brought back memories," he said quietly. "I could have been one of these names."
For those who grew up during the Vietnam generation, the realization hitting home was how life's circumstances had spared them. Rocky Hensley recalled that his draft lottery number was 291, but the call-up did not reach him. He is, however, familiar with the terrible impacts of war. "My father got a Purple Heart during World War II," he said. "I know what these people gave up."
Rev. Craig Davies has a good reason to remember the draft lottery: his number was 11. Being a student in a theological seminary at the time put him a special classification, he said, but that does not mean he missed the lessons of the war. "When I started reading the names, the reality of the heartache of war hit me," he said. "These are individuals whose families' lives were changed forever. It serves as a reminder of the sacrifices that people make every day to ensure our freedoms."
Jim Neal said it was an honor to participate in the Voices for the Wall. "It will be fabulous for the survivors and the families of those who died to hear those names being spoken." Joe Brannen agreed, adding: "There is no better way to honor those who have done so much for our country."
As McNeely wrapped up the day's recording, packing away the microphone and other gear that he had set up in the Happy Dayz diner's restroom because the tiled walls made for good acoustics ("We'll go anywhere, any time"), he said the effort is "a labor of love."
McNeely, who served in Vietnam in 1968 and 1972, is working with Jim and Marcia Stepanek of Citrus Springs (Stepanek was a Marine who survived Vietnam), and a handful of others to record the entire list. "No name will go unspoken," said McNeely, who has read more than 60 pages himself. "I guarantee it."
The effort began late last year and McNeely said the group is on target to finish by the fall.
As of Tuesday, nearly 18,000 names had been spoken. My page was number 586. There are more than 40,000 names to go.
- If your group is interested in participating in the Voices for the Wall project, call 352 447-3393 or (352) 447-1444 or send e-mail to IMamethyst@aol.com
