Marc Noel, right, and his son Pierre Charles 14, of Quebec City, Canada, look at the names on the replica Vietnam War Memorial in Wildwood. Photo by: Dale Gerhard
By TRUDI GILFILLIAN Press of A.C. Staff Writer | Wednesday August 11, 2010
WILDWOOD — Strains of “Wildwood Days” play in the background as a loudspeaker at the Wildwoods Convention Center announces the city’s upcoming events. But across the street, a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial remains silent.
Visitors come here only when they are ready.
Since Wildwood’s version of the Washington war memorial was dedicated May 29, visitors have come at all hours, some leaving behind mementos to remember their friends and loved ones, some just wanting to pay their respects.
They leave behind American flags, flowers – both real and silk – crosses, candles, military insignia and photographs.
The items will remain until they become too worn or faded, at which point they will become part of a permanent collection of keepsakes maintained by the Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 955 of the Wildwoods, the group that led the effort to raise the more than $120,000 needed to erect the wall.
The setting is very unlike that of Washington, D.C. The wall, at 240 feet long, is half the size of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in the nation’s capital. Here, families in brightly colored bathing suits hurry past hauling beach chairs, coolers and boogie boards. A reflection of the Great White roller coaster stands out in the wall’s dark panels.
But the memorial lists as many names – 58,913, with room for more – as the larger one. And the visitors come here to pay tribute to those they knew.
“A guy in my brother’s class died in ‘Nam,” Paul Miley said as he stopped to see the wall. Miley, of Lancaster County, Pa., and his neighbors, Michael and Anne Killen, are visiting Wildwood for the week.
Miley still recalled the young man’s name, Timothy Shober, who was killed, he believes, in 1968.
“A lot of my friends were in the Vietnam War,” Miley said.
The three were riding their bikes Tuesday when they came upon the monument. Anne Killen’s brother served in the army in Vietnam.
“It wakes you up,” she said of the wall, “to realize that people are fighting for our country.”
Earl and Patti Goodhart, of New Cumberland, Pa., active with American Legion Post No. 143 at home, had stopped to visit American Legion Post 184 in Wildwood when they noticed some of its members wearing T-shirts that featured the Wildwood monument.
“We bought two shirts and wanted to see it,” said Earl Goodhart, a veteran who served in the Air Force during the Korean War.
They parked their bikes Tuesday morning just before 10 and walked beside the wall, glancing at the thousands of names etched in black granite.
“It’s real emotional to see that they actually did this,” Patti Goodhart said.
A cousin and an uncle had served in Vietnam, Patti Goodhart said, as she told the story of the dog her uncle and his fellow soldiers adopted while they were there.
“It’s very impressive – just an amazing number of people that lost their lives. It’s tough fighting a war like that when you don’t know who you’re fighting,” Earl Goodhart said.
The pair forgot to bring a camera this morning, but agreed they would be back before their stay in the Wildwoods was over.
“I’m just amazed at how many lost their lives …,” Earl said. Patti finished the sentence, “… for us.”
This day, a black and white image of Bernard J. Moran Jr. sat below the wall marked with these words: “Son, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Great Grandfather Be All That You Can Be. The Marines, His Love, His Life.”
Farther down, an American flag sat in honor of Frank Amos Hennis: Nov. 23, 1941, to Sept. 7, 1965.
Not all the visitors come on bicycles or on foot. Some slow their cars and point to the wall, even pulling off the road briefly to look. Then they drive away.
As they were visiting the wall, Marc Noel and his 14-year-old son, Pierre Charles Noel, of Quebec City, Canada, took a few minutes to leave their bicycles.
Marc Noel said he was here in July 2008 when a traveling version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, known as The Wall That Heals, was placed in Fox Park, not far from the home of the permanent replica in Columbus Park.
During his travels to the United States, Marc Noel said, he noticed that remembering veterans was an important part of this nation’s culture, whether it was on car license plates or military caps or the placement of American flags.
The replica wall impressed him as another example of the country’s desire to remember.
“It’s very respectful of those souls,” he said.