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Traveling With The Moving Wall Of The Vietnam Veterans

Destination: Vermont Twenty-five years with a book and asked if he could help
after the war ended--and often longer me. I said, "No, I was just walking."
than that since a loved one died in Eventually, Miner came back to the
it--they still come to The Wall. Eighteen volunteer with the book. There was a FAC,
years after The Vietnam Veterans Memorial he said, a Capt. Miller from
was dedicated in Washington, 16 years Massachusetts. He was shot down and
after the first moving walls were built killed.
and began touring the country, they still "The guy looked it up and he looked at me
come, oblivious to the differences in and said, `It's right behind you,' ''
size or scope of the structure. Miner said.
They don't come for its size and scope. When Miner became president of Chapter
They come for the names. 601 in Bennington, he vowed to bring The
"There's nothing abstract about Moving Wall back. He formed a committee,
somebody's name," said John Devitt, one contacted organizations around the town,
of The Moving Wall's builders. "You look and got commitments for money needed to
at a name and you think of a person who cover the expenses.
had hopes and dreams and family and "The level of community support was mind
friends." boggling, unbelievable," he said.
Fred Frappiea Jr., had such hopes and The local newspaper did a story a day,
dreams. They ended on ending on March 22, business owners gave employees time off
1968, in Thua Thien, South Vietnam. He work to read names from The Wall, food
was 20 years old, a PFC in the 101st was donated, and the National Guard
Airborne, Division when he was killed in provided tents.
action. "It was remarkable," Miner said. "I think
His name appears on Panel 45E, Line 55. a lot of it came from people needing to
His mother, Lona Frappiea, 78, has never know. They came from all over the state
seen it. and from Massachusetts and New York, too.
She went to The Moving Wall when it came Every time I turned around, there was a
to Bennington, Vermont., near her home in story happening."
Saxtons River. But she could not bring Like the accident of his standing in
herself to look at his name. To look at front of the name he sought, coincidences
his name would mean that she had to give and connections came from surprising
him up. places.
"I'll go where The Wall is, but I won't A veteran seeks a Gold Star Mother to
go where his name is," she said. "I've talk about her son, his buddy from
never gone." Vietnam. Two days later, a retired couple
When The Moving Wall came to Vermont, she from New York ask about a name, a boy the
went on a day set aside to honor Gold man taught in grammar school.
Star parents. She wrote a letter to her It's the same name.
son. A motorcycle rider comes alone. For three
A volunteer placed it at the foot of the days, he speaks to no one. Finally, Miner
portable wall under his name. and others approach and offer him coffee.
"I had just become acquainted with VVA He declines, saying he wants only to hear
and the more I saw of them, the better I one name read.
liked them," she said. "You can't get any They ask if he would like to read the
better friend than a Vietnam veteran. name himself.
They're just wonderful people. They're my "He read it," Miner said. "As soon as he
families. I have never met a Vietnam did, he rode off and we never saw him
veteran I didn't love. I wish I could get again."
more Gold Star Mothers active because Charlene Moffitt, another Vermonter and
they don't know the love they'e missing. the sister of Clifton Bacon, who died in
A lot of people ask me how can I get up Vietnam in 1966, is the only member of
and do it, and I tell them, "it's not how her family who has touched his name. It's
can I get up and do it. I do it for my high on The Wall in Washington and when
son." she went there in 1982 for its
When The Wall comes to a community, the dedication, someone showed her the ladder
community invariably responds. When The she could use.
Wall That Heals, sponsored by the Vietnam "When we buried him, it was never
Veterans Memorial Fund, came to Delaware settled," she said. "They sent him home
County, Pa., George Brown spoke of an in a sealed coffin. I didn't really
"outpouring" of support. believe it was true. But when I saw his
"You really don't know what to expect," name on The Wall, I thought, that's him."
he said. "The things people left at The Her sister, Christine Bacon, said The
Wall showed how it impacted them. Wall "brought him home."
Mementoes, the kind of thing you find "It was painful to see, but it confirmed
down at Washington. But knowing The Wall it," she said. "I was only sixteen when
was temporary, you wouldn't expect the he died. Charlene was eighteen, and it
effort to make up the little things they was like you couldn't believe it. It
left." brought him home. A lot of people in the
A friend had gotten involved in the 60s said a lot of negative things. When
effort to bring The Wall That Heals to The Wall came to Bennington, it was like
Delaware County. Brown advised on the saying he's a good person and he's home
protocols that needed to be followed and again. We can be proud now. He's got his
helped in the research. own place now. We don't need to protect
"There's more awareness today of how him anymore."
people were treated," he said. "There are They grew up in a small town in a small
still a lot of family members around and state. There were 14 children in their
we have quite a few Gold Star Mothers in hometown and five of them came from the
the county. But I talked to three or four Bacon family. Eight years separated the
guys who had never been to The Wall." five. Clifton Bacon was 21 when he was
In Vermont in 1991, John Miner was one of drafted, 22 when he died.
them. The Moving Wall had come to Rutland "The Moving Wall, the real Wall, it's
for two weeks. He couldn't bring himself hard, all those people, all those guys
to go until the last day. Then friends and women, what they went through,"
said they were going and asked him along. Charlene said. "I'll always go. If I
"I got up there and one of those weird could go tomorrow, I'd go.
things happened," he said. "A guy came up




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