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Names added to Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall
Dozens of veterans and their families came together at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in the District to honor and remember the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifices on this Memorial Day.
WASHINGTON - The names of five more service members are being added to the wall on this Memorial Day during an in-person ceremony commemorating the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
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Each year on Memorial Day, veterans and their families come together at The Wall, the 2-acre site that is dominated by a black granite wall engraved with the names of those service members who died as a result of their service in Vietnam and South East Asia during the war.
"It’s extra special because we didn’t get to have one last year we had all virtual ceremonies," said Heidi Zimmerman, Vice President of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund.
"So we are really excited to be here, and commemorate name additions and status changes for the last two years."
READ MORE: Honors, tributes to fallen on Memorial Day at World War II Memorial
Many speakers room the podium Monday afternoon including veterans sharing war stories, or talking about combat buddies they have lost and the time they came back from fighting in the Vietnam War and how they were treated and even the long term impact the war has had on their mental health.
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Honoring the fallen
More names were added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall today.
The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial holds more than 58,000 names of people who fought and died in the Vietnam War.
Five more names of service members were welcomed on the wall giving families like the Oliveiras, some sense of closure after decades of waiting.
Julie Oliveira-Payton, whose father Lawrence R. Oliveira is a Purple Heart recipient and fought in the Vietnam War and died in combat.
"To be able to get this honor for him and recognition and for him and to be among all of these heroes and among his soldiers is so special for us and words cannot express gratitude for this opportunity.
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Even if we didn’t grow up with our dad here we knew that we were responsible to carry on that baton and we knew that we had to go into service fields because of that."
There are still more than 1500 families of service members on the wall who continue to wait.