Call For Photos: Putting Faces With Names On The Wall

There were 612 soldiers from Connecticut killed in action in the Vietnam War. Their names are among the more than 58,000 listed on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Central Connecticut State University and the Connecticut Department of Veterans’ Affairs are teaming up to put faces with those names. On Friday July 29, the two issued a “Call for Photos” project in conjunction with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

The memorial fund began the “Call for Photos” campaign in 2009 with the goal of attaching faces to the more than 58,000 names memorialized on The Vietnam Memorial – often referred to as  the Wall .

The photos will become part of a Virtual Wall to be displayed in  The Education Center  to be built near the Memorial Wall, according to a press release issued Friday. Working with teachers and volunteers, the CCSU Veterans History Project and the Veteran’s Affairs department have organized the statewide effort to collect pictures and remembrances of the 612 Connecticut service members killed during the war.

At Connecticut’s kickoff event July 29 held in CCSU’s Founders Hall, President Jack Miller was joined by Commissioner Linda Schwartz, CT Department of Veterans’ Affairs; Geoffrey Wiles, director of Education Programs at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial; Eileen Hurst, director of the CCSU Veterans History Projects, Michele Mullaly, principal of Coventry High School, and Paul Vaccaro, combat veteran.

According to the press release, Miller reminisced about his high school classmates who never made it back from the war. “Those who did return from Vietnam, many of them, were not well received. But they have worked since then, involved in many projects such as this Call for Photos, to make sure other veterans, those returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, do not experience what they did. I am proud CCSU has a hand in making sure that those who died during the Vietnam War will be respectfully honored and remembered.” 

Only 187 Conn. faces; 2 from Madison

Of 612 Connecticut service members killed in Vietnam, only 187 photos have been collected so far. For Madison, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial website, two soldiers died in action: Leon Russell Goodale, Jr. and John Sergeant Voegtu. Neither have a photo.

Wiles, who traveled from Washington to Connecticut to help kick off the initiative, pointed out that just two states have collected 100 percent of their photos – New Mexico and North Carolina. Nationwide, just 35 percent have been collected.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Washington DC | Hole In The Donut ...

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The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial