Remembering the fallen of the Vietnam War, one name at a time

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50163

Remembering the fallen of the Vietnam War, one name at a time
By Joe Gromelski, Stars and Stripes
Online edition, November 9, 2007


WASHINGTON — John Lazarczyk was waiting to hear a name.

He knew he might have to stand in the chilly November darkness for a couple of hours, but that wasn't important. He was there to honor a man he had never even met.

As volunteers lined up in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and took turns reading the names of some of the 58,256 Vietnam War dead Thursday night, Lazarczyk spoke about James Daniel Williamson, an Army Spec. 4 who was a gunner on a UH1D helicopter that was shot down over Laos on January 5, 1968.

Rescue and recovery crews were unable to reach the scene, so Williamson and the four other soldiers on the copter were thereafter listed as missing in action.

When MIA bracelets were introduced, Lazarczyk got one. It bore the name of James Williamson.

"I kept the home fires burning over all those years" by wearing the bracelet, said Lazarczyk, a semi-retired chief financial officer now living in Shepherdstown, W.V. "Then, miraculously, last year the remains of those five men were found in Laos."

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The reading of names will continue through Saturday, from 5 a.m. until midnight. A 25th anniversary parade will take place on Saturday in Washington, and Sunday will see the traditional Veterans Day remembrance at the Wall, with former Secretary of State and retired Gen. Colin Powell as keynote speaker.

http://stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=50163

No? I didn't think so.