By Chuck Cannon
Guardian Editor
Editor’s note: From July 3-8, 2008, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall was set up at the Beauregard Parish Fair Grounds in DeRidder. This story originally appeared in the July 11, 2008 issue of the Fort Polk Guardian and is reprinted in honor of the March 20 commemoration of National Vietnam War Veterans Day. Jerome Goldwire, who provided the first vignette, died May 9, 2013.
FORT POLK, La. — In Washington, D.C., stands a granite wall bearing the names of more than 58,000 service members who gave their lives in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. For many veterans, a trip to the memorial is akin to a religious pilgrimage. But not everyone can afford the cross-country trip.
To make the wall more accessible, a moving version of it was created through the efforts of Vietnam veterans John Devitt, Gerry Haver and Norris Shears. Their creation has allowed many people — including veterans and Family members of lost loved ones — to get a glimpse of their service member’s name.
On July 3, 2008, the Moving Wall arrived at the Beauregard Parish Fair Grounds in DeRidder for a five-day run. It was estimated by sponsors that more than 5,000 people visited the wall, searching for someone in particular or just gazing at the 58,256 names.
“It could have been my name on the wall.”
Jerome Goldwire, an Army retiree who now lives in DeRidder, said he came to the wall to etch the names of 12 of his former Army buddies who were killed in Vietnam.
“This guy here, Roosevelt Wallace, we went to the same school,” Goldwire said as he rubbed a piece of chalk on a white leaf of paper, creating an image of Wallace’s name. “He was a couple of years behind me. He got killed in ’69. I was in there in ‘67 and ‘68.”
Goldwire said it took a while to find the names of all of his friends.
“I was planning on getting to Washington one day to see the wall, but I just never had the time,” he said. “I’m glad this wall came here.”
Goldwire stopped speaking for a moment and stared at Wallace’s name. He reached up and wiped a tear from the corner of his eye.
“It makes you teary-eyed to see these names, especially the ones you knew and served with,” he said. “It could have been my name on the wall. I guess I was just blessed.”
Goldwire said people should never forget the sacrifices made by service men and women in Vietnam and other conflicts.
“We need to be reminded about the cost of freedom,” he said. “That’s a lot of names.”
Goldwire said he often thinks about the Soldiers he knew who lost their lives.
“This guy, Purdy, from North Carolina, is one I went to AIT with,” he said. “He had some problems he had to take care of at home and some of the folks told him not to worry about it, he could take care of it when he got back. But he never got back.”
“It brings back some horrible memories.”
Wallace McCloud stood gazing at the name of Ronald M. Cloud.
“When he was killed, they almost sent my name back home because our names were so similar,” McCloud said. “He had been wounded and was on his way back to our unit when an RPG (rocket propelled grenade) round got him.”
As was the case with most of the veterans who looked on names remembering friends and comrades, McCloud’s eyes welled with tears.
“There’s a guy here named Singletary,” McCloud said. “He was the platoon sergeant for headquarters platoon and was riding with Captain White. There was an embankment we couldn’t get over, so White took it on himself to take his APC up on that embankment and try to cross it. They hit a napalm bomb. Singletary had just gotten a ring with his son’s birthstone on it. The napalm got him.”
McCloud remembered another friend who was killed two days before he was scheduled to leave Vietnam.
“He didn’t have to go out on patrol, but I remember he said, ‘To heck with it, I’ll go out tonight and pass the time,’” McCloud said. “He was killed that night. When it came time for your 10-day stand down, you’d better take your days. You didn’t really know if you’d make it back or not.”
A lot of what he remembers about the sweltering jungle heat is unpleasant, McCloud said.
“It brings back some horrible memories and sends cold chills down me,” he said. “Even today, 40 years later.”
“He should have been home with his Family.”
Charles Beaton slid his fingertips across the name of Henry Garcia.
“We were stationed at Fort Devens, Germany, Fort Jackson and then Vietnam,” Beaton said. “We were both in MACV (Military Assistance Command, Vietnam). He was down country and I was middle way. It’s been so many years. We were such good friends.”
Beaton said seeing Garcia’s name brought back good memories.
“We had a lot of good times,” he said. “I even shipped some stuff home from Germany in his hold baggage. We were tight.”
Beaton said Garcia was overdue to return home when he was killed.
“He had been down to headquarters and was coming back to his hooch when he spotted some VC (Viet Cong, North Vietnamese soldiers) in a rice paddy,” Beaton said. “He stopped and fired on them and they outflanked and killed him. It was sad. He should have been home with his family.”
“He was the last.”
Katie St. Romain, 15, scanned the wall looking for the name of her great-grandmother’s cousin, Mitchell Furmin.
“It’s heart breaking to see just how many Americans were killed in Vietnam,” she said. “I knew a lot of guys died, but when you see them all etched in stone, it’s pretty overwhelming.”
St. Romain said she came to see the name of a relative who died long before she was born.
“It makes me proud to see the name of someone who is kin to me,” she said. “It’s also sad. He was the last one to carry on the family name and he died. It’s sad that branch of the Furmin family name is gone.”
As the closing ceremonies at the moving wall drew to an end, a young woman — who said she had no ties to anyone who had served in Vietnam— walked quietly back to her car.
“I just wanted to see what it was all about,” Telisha Fivas said of her visit. “This is one of the most impressive and humbling things I’ve ever seen. To think that all of those names gave their lives for others is mind-boggling. It makes me proud to be an American.”