Jefferson City Vietnam War veteran Stanley Scott can pinpoint his friend's name on the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall visiting Jefferson City.
The two were classmates at Jefferson City High School, and Scott was two years older than the fallen soldier, the first one from Cole County to die in the war. Scott, who volunteered to go to war, remembered his friend as he gave young students tours of the site, stressing the significance of sacrifice.
"Sometimes it's difficult, but I get through it and it's OK," Scott said. "Especially when I try to tell some of the students about the experience. It can get emotional. I'll admit that it's been an emotional experience just to see the wall here. I see a lot of veterans come through, and it's an emotional experience. And, just the enormity of (the wall) - all the people who lost their lives."
Nearly all of the more than 200 volunteers dedicating their time to the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall have a connection to the war or military, said Jill Snodgrass, project coordinator for the event. A large portion - more than a quarter, she said - are Vietnam War veterans themselves. Volunteers have been working at the wall to locate names and conduct name rubbings, looking up names inside the computer tent, acting as security, and supervising hospitality and static displays. They've traveled from across Missouri and out of state.
Because the wall is open 24 hours a day, volunteers are making that possible, some working a 10 p.m.-7 a.m. shift. In addition to veterans, volunteers came from the local carpenters' union to set up the wall, and Walmart employees have been on hand to assist in various capacities, Snodgrass said.
Scott, who was in the military for four years, served in Vietnam from May 1967 to June 1968. He said he "had it easy," avoiding combat in a supportive role as a Marines pay records keeper. A life member of the VFW and Marine Corps League, Scott said he felt compelled to volunteer for the Moving Wall and enjoyed speaking to youth.
"This morning I had the privilege of taking a couple of school classes through, and to tell them about the wall and about Vietnam," Scott said Friday. "And it's just important for the young students coming up to know the history and to be aware of what our country went through."
Jim Phillips, of Tebbetts, battled in the Vietnam War from 1969-70 as a U.S. Army infantry soldier. He and his fellow soldiers encountered booby traps and hand grenades, causing him to sustain a busted eardrum and shrapnel to his face, arm and leg, where a piece still remains. Phillips watched two friends die in combat, along with other soldiers, and saw men lose limbs during the conflict.
"A lot of this I don't even try to remember," said Phillips, a Bronze Star and two-time Purple Heart recipient. "I try to block it out."
The pain of the past didn't keep him from volunteering at the Moving Wall. Like Scott, Phillips led student groups around the wall, military vehicles and camp displays. Seeing the hundreds gathered at the Capitol south lawn for the Moving Wall opening ceremony Thursday, Phillips said public opinion of Vietnam veterans is vastly different from how it was during the war and its aftermath.
"(The wall) brings back a lot of memories - some good, mostly bad," he said. "When we came back from Vietnam, it was such an unpopular war that you didn't want people to know that you went. But now, I'll be in the store and someone will walk up, seeing my Vietnam veteran hat, and they'll come up and shake my hand."
Jefferson City resident Wanda Majermik, who volunteered at the Moving Wall, was in high school when her two older brothers, Larry and Jack Anderson, went to Vietnam. Larry served in the U.S. Navy and retired after 22 years of service, while Jack, who was exposed to Agent Orange in Vietnam, went into the U.S. Army. Majermik said her family was fortunate not to suffer the losses of her brothers, who made it home safely, but the thought of losing them was stressful.
"You fear that they might not come back, and then you pray for their safety," she said.
Looking at the wall, Majermik called it "amazing."
"I didn't know it was going to be so huge," she said, "and it's overwhelming to see the names and know those people did not make it back, and they gave the ultimate sacrifice - their lives."
Previous coverage:
Wall, ceremony unleash tide of memories
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