Vietnam Memorial Wall in Georgia vandalized

Johns Creek Vietnam Veterans wall vandalized

CBS 46 News
Jasmina Alston
Apr 28, 2020

"You didn't just hurt that structure, you hurt some people." Mike Mizell

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. (CBS46) -- The Wall That Heals Vietnam Veterans Memorial was recently vandalized, according to the Johns Creek Veterans Association.

The group has been working on the project since last July and planned on having a grand opening on March 28, but the coronavirus pandemic put that on hold.

"When we can get into groups larger than ten, because we've been contacted by groups from all over the southeast wanting to come," Mike Mizell, from the association, said.
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Vietnam veterans remember those who gave their lives at the Wall

Central Illinois veterans honor squad members who saved their lives during Vietnam War

Central Illinois Proud
By: Matt Sheehan
Posted: Jun 04, 2019

WASHINGTON D.C.--The Greater Peoria Honor Flight can be seen as the trip of a lifetime.

A time where veterans are able to see the memorials in Washington D.C. and reminisce on their times serving in the military.

For Kenneth Klein and Donald Lewis, the Vietnam Memorial Wall reminded them how blessed they are, to be alive today.

"Just the memory of those lost in my platoon. Like I said, Corporal Maxim won the Medal of Honor. If it weren't for Corporal Maxim, Don Lewis wouldn't be here," said Donald Lewis who served in the Vietnam War in the Marine Corps.

"I know too many names on that wall. Some from high school, but four of them that I indicated was from a squad that I was in. They had a big part of my life when I was in country," said Kenneth Klein who served in the Navy as a builder during the Vietnam War.

Klein fought in the Vietnam War a little less than two years.

"I shipped out and joined them in Vietnam in May of 1967, and they were killed in August," Klein said.

And while he only knew his squad members for a short period of time, they changed his life forever.

"Richard Wager shared Christ with me, told me I need to be saved and know The Lord. It gave me a lot of hope, because when there was incoming, I'd pray. I mean, what do you do? You'd call out to God," said Klein.
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Vietnam veteran with name on The Wall had to prove he was still alive

Missing and memorialized, a Vietnam veteran was found

The Augusta Chronicle
By Bill Kirby
Posted May 26, 2019

The former master sergeant went back to Hawaii and lived quietly until his death in 2007.

His name remains on the Vietnam memorial with 32 others that have been “mistakenly engraved,” a spokesman said last week in an e-mail. However, they no longer qualify for the honor, nor are they officially acknowledged.

A Vietnam soldier presumed dead and mourned by his family turned up in 1996.

As Memorial Day 1993 approached, engravers at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington prepared to add the name of Master Sgt. Mateo Sabog to the wall.

A 24-year Army veteran with a spotless record, Sabog had disappeared in February 1970 while assigned to the 507th Transportation Group in Qui Nhon, South Vietnam, and was presumed dead.

For a quarter century his family in Hawaii pressed the Army for answers. U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye got involved, as did U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink. Sabog’s mother wrote the president of North Vietnam asking help. President Jimmy Carter was also asked.

Nothing happened, however, and in 1993 Sabog’s name joined thousands who had died in the war. The government of Vietnam even returned remains it believed to be him.

But he wasn’t dead.

Three years after his name was placed on the memorial, the frail 73-year-old sat in Fort Gordon’s Eisenhower Army Medical Center struggling to tell both the Army and his family what he had been doing the past 26 years.
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POTUS sent executive Tweet to Rolling Thunder?

President Trump Said He Rescued the Rolling Thunder Tribute to POWs. It's Not That Simple

TIME
BY RACHEL E. GREENSPAN
MAY 26, 2019

Despite Trump’s tweet, Rolling Thunder’s founder and executive director Artie Muller affirmed again on Sunday this was the last year for the event in the nation’s capital.

In reference to the President’s comments, Muller said on C-Span that nothing had changed. “I know he means well, but I don’t know what the story is with them working it out with us,” Muller, a Vietnam War veteran, said. “There’d have to be a lot of discussion and a lot of changes for everybody that comes here and our organization that helps put this together.”

Rolling Thunder has held its motorcycle demonstration ride every Memorial Day Weekend in Washington, D.C., for more than three decades—which is why the nonprofit veteran advocacy group’s announcement last fall that 2019 would be the ride’s last year concerned many.

The news made it all the way to President Donald Trump, who tweeted from Japan on Saturday with a pledge to help. On Sunday, he weighed in again––this time declaring that Rolling Thunder would continue in Washington next year, implying he had fixed the problem.

“The Great Patriots of Rolling Thunder WILL be coming back to Washington, D.C. next year, and hopefully for many years to come,” he said. “It is where they want to be, and where they should be.”

Donald J. Trump
@realDonaldTrump
The Great Patriots of Rolling Thunder WILL be coming back to Washington, D.C. next year, and hopefully for many years to come. It is where they want to be, and where they should be. Have a wonderful time today. Thank you to our great men and women of the Pentagon for working it out!

Rolling Thunder has organized an annual rally in Washington for 32 years, inviting veterans and bikers to ride together to voice support of veterans missing in action and kept as prisoners of war.
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“Promise made, promise kept,” said Jim Eddleman, on building memorial wall

Vietnam Veteran fulfills promise 5 decades later

KFVS NBC 12 News
By Kelsey Anderson
March 1, 2019

PERRYVILLE, MO (KFVS) - A Perryville man made a promise to himself while serving in the Vietnam War.

If he made it home, he would honor his fallen comrades. Now, nearly five decades later he gave a part of himself to build it and the land to build it on.

“Promise made, promise kept,” said Jim Eddleman, who was a specialist in the Army during the Vietnam War.

“When I was in Vietnam, I made a promise that if i made it back to the United States alive that I had to do something to show my honor and respect for my comrades,” said Eddleman.

He never forgot the promise and was waiting for the right opportunity to fulfill it.

“Finally this opportunity for the veterans memorial come up and I knew that was what I wanted to do,” said Eddleman.

The wall that's an exact replica of the one in Washington D.C. sits on property donated by Eddleman and his wife Charlene.
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Guardians help veterans on Honor Flight

Guardians help veterans on Honor Flight visit to war memorials

WLOS ABC 13 News
by Frank Kracher
October 12th 2018

Some guardians were veterans, like Iraq War Marine Kevin Rumley, who was on his fourth Honor Flight..."As much as I'm moved by the experience every time, my focus as a guardian is always on the veteran and anything they need to just make their day better," Rumley said.

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Blue Ridge Honor Flight took to the air last weekend for the 35th time, and the trip was a first.

Veterans of Vietnam, accompanied by Honor Flight guardians, who helped get them through a whirlwind day in Washington, D.C., were the focus for the first time.

Honor Flights are free for veterans; guardians pay for the privilege.

That group of volunteers is our Persons Of The Week.

From Asheville Regional Airport to Reagan National, the trip was the start of a "welcome home" experience so many Vietnam vets never had.

Among them, 71-year-old Yancey County native David Letterman.

First stop was the Lincoln Memorial, for a color guard flag ceremony and group photo.

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Last Patrol Vietnam Memorial Wall Wickham Park