Photo by Brittany M. Solo

Vietnam Veteran Memorial visits

The traveling Vietnam Veteran Memorial wall made its annual November stop at a small park on Marine Avenue near Aviation Boulevard in Manhattan Beach Nov. 22-29.

The site attracted approximately 1,800 visitors.

Sculptor Frederick Hart's goal was to create a moving evocation of the experience and service of the Vietnam veteran, according to a pamphlet for the memorial.

The wall displays 58,202 names of veterans lost in the Vietnam War. The names are listed chronologically by date of casualty.

The original Vietnam Veteran Memorial wall, in Washington, is the most often visited monument in the nation. That wall was dedicated in November of 1982. The names on that wall were laid on white walls and set above ground.

This new memorial wall was done on polished, black granite and is set below ground. The walls are 246.75 feet long and the height of the walls is 10.1 feet at the vertex.

The granite is from Bangalore, India and was cut and fabricated in Barre, Vt. The names were grit-blasted in Memphis, Tenn. The letters are approximately half an inch tall.

In 1984, John Devitt conceived the idea of a travelling wall. Today there are three traveling walls and each one is on display 30 weeks out of the year. The walls travel all over the United States.

John Pagel, of Glendora, volunteers for the Vietnam Veteran Memorial traveling wall.

"Those who volunteer at the wall are not looking for recognition, Pagel said. They don't consider themselves heroes or anything special. They are there to support the veterans around the world and perhaps fill a personal need as well."

Pagel helps people find names on the wall and said he is there to help comfort those who need a shoulder to cry on.

"The magnitude of the lost generation this wall represents is overpowering, even for those who didn't lose an immediate family member (in the war)," he said. "People see this wall and feel like those names are of someone they knew and really, they are. Those names are the names of all of our brothers, cousins and friends."

According to Pagel, many people visit the wall each year.

"People visit old friends and loved ones," he said. "Some pay their respects with flowers and letters that adorn the ground beneath the wall."

Compton resident Ralph Prince visited the wall this past weekend.

"The deep and tremendous loss I feel for my classmates is indescribable, Prince said. I feel regret that these boys had to die so far from home and for such a senseless war."