Veterans’ memorial wall visits The Dalles

The Oregon Memorial Traveling Wall was displayed at the Oregon Veterans Home from July 22 - 24. Speakers told its story to a full audience of veterans, family and visitors after army veteran Michael Galicia led the pledge of allegiance in last Monday’s ceremony.

The wall’s black central panels carry the names of more than 700 Oregonians who fell in Vietnam and on the USS Pueblo, etched in white. Sandstone-colored side panels list the names of the more than 170 Oregonians lost in Panama, the bombing of Beirut, Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom and continuing conflicts. Each year, Oregonians lost to any future conflicts will be added.

The wall holds more than 900 names.

“These names tell a statewide story of courage, of love, and of sacrifice. It tells a story of the profound cost of freedom, and of brave men and women fighting to protect those whom they love in order to create a better, safer world,” said Joe Glover, Navy veteran and Oregon Department of Veterans' Affairs appeals and special advocacy director who helps veterans and families access military service benefits, focusing on women, LGBTQ+ and houseless veterans.

The Oregon Memorial Traveling Wall Project mimics the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., which is also known as “The Wall that Heals.” This six-panel wall, 20 feet long and eight feet tall, tours Oregon communities in a red, white and blue trailer. It can be taken apart and set up anywhere.

Meant to bring multiple generations of veterans together, the traveling memorial was built by Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA), with a chapter in Roseburg.

“Many family members and veterans, some with memories from many years ago, some newly home from their last tour and some getting ready to leave for boot camp have come to the Wall to share their stories,” according to VVA Roseburg, whose motto is “Never Again Shall One Generation of Veterans Abandon Another.”

“I can only talk of my personal experiences,” said Steve Lawrence, Vietnam veteran and former mayor of The Dalles, sharing his first encounter with the Vietnam memorial wall in Washington, D.C.

“First, I thought I just wanted to see it, then I started looking for names. I was overwhelmed by the number of people who were there even though it was then 20 years after the war had ended,” he said. “There were notes, flowers, medals, pictures and most of all, people looking for names, rubbing names onto sheets of paper. The wall is reflective black marble, so you look at yourself in reflection as you look for your friends or loved ones. The next day, I was back, rubbing three names on tracing paper provided by my sister.” Lawrence shared stories of the comrades and acquaintances whose names he found, all fallen in the Vietnam War. He later returned with a daughter, telling her, “'War is, if I had been killed, you would not have been born.'”

A scholarship program and other veterans’ services are funded by donations collected at the memorial, aiming to help veterans who come home to dwindling educational funding.

“Regardless of what branch we might have served, it is an honor to be here today to pay tribute to Oregon’s own, our nation’s fallen heroes — to remember their sacrifices, and honor their legacy forever memorialized with the Oregon Memorial Traveling Wall,” said Glover.

“Walls are for remembering, for grieving and for healing. They are important,” said Lawrence. He ended his speech with the Archibald McLeash poem “The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak,” which he discovered while searching the Vietnam wall’s online site for Mike Ciesielka, “a tough Polak from Pennsylvania who died in Vietnam" who was one of the three names Lawrence rubbed onto his sister’s tracing paper. The poem was left there by another soldier to honor Ciesilka.

The ceremony ended with a moment of silence, in recognition of the seven local veterans named on the wall.

For questions about the wall, contact VVA Umpqua Valley Chapter 805 at 541-229-3456 or umpquavalleychapter805@gmail.com.