Vietnam veterans and their families attended The Moving Wall opening ceremony in Stockton.
The 253-foot-long Vietnam Veterans Memorial traveling replica wall opened to the community on Thursday, May 14, at the Weber Point Events Center, at 221 N. Center St.
The half-size replica has more than 58,000 Vietnam veterans names who lost their lives during the war. Vietnam veteran Joseph Maes performed a Native American blessing on the grounds as Vietnam veteran Terry Hansen played a wooden flute at the end of the opening ceremony.
Linda Vasquez, event chair of the United Veterans Council, said during the ceremony that this was the fifth time The Moving Wall was in Stockton.
“The Moving Wall not only honors those who died, but also those who are still listed as Missing in Action, reminding us that for some families, the war never truly ended,” Vasquez said. “1,566 servicemen remained missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. Of those still missing, 160 are from California, and 79 from Northern California.”
Vasquez said eight women are listed on the wall. There are also 43 sets of brothers, and father and sons listed. She said the average age is 23 years.
“The youngest person on the wall is Dan Bollock, who altered his birth certificate and joined the U.S. Marine Corps at 14 years in age,” Vasquez added. “He was deployed to Vietnam at 15 and died in a firefight one month after arriving in country.”
The Wall is made up of 74 panels with names listed by date of casualty and not alphabetical order, she said.
“We encourage young people to come out and realize that these were young men and women that were sent to war,” Vasquez said. “Most of them were drafted and they didn’t have that choice of serving, but they did. They went and so just as a reminder that sacrifices were made and we enjoy our freedom because of their sacrifices.”
The Wall will remain open 24 hours a day this weekend through 2 p.m. Monday. At 10 a.m. on Saturday, there will be a Fallen Heroes Ceremony. A closing ceremony will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday.
“Stockton has a long and proud history of military service. Veterans and their families are a vital part of our community, and many Vietnam veterans live here in San Joaquin County,” Vasquez said. “Bringing the Wall ensures that every veteran and family member has the opportunity to experience it close to home.”
There are about 150 names from San Joaquin County in Grave Dunn Memorial, with about 70 from the city of Stockton. Vasquez, who is the daughter of a Navy veteran, said the last time The Wall was in the city was in 2019.
“It’s an opportunity to come out and visit the wall to find names of loved ones or just strangers and learn a little bit about their stories,” she said. “They’re real people, young people for the most part.”
Stockton Vietnam Veterans
Albert Baker, who goes by “Al” was the oldest Vietnam veteran present at the opening ceremony on Thursday. He had the honor of doing the ribbon-cutting.
Baker, now 82, was born in Pennsylvania. He served in Vietnam twice as a Naval Seabees.
“It was challenging because the Seabees, we did all construction and built everything,” he said of his service. “We’re with the Marines for first year, and we built the airfields … and runways, everything.”
When asked what does it mean to see the wall and all the names on it Baker said, it brought back bad memories.
“It brings back a lot of bad memories, one thing, and all the guys that were lost that shouldn’t have been lost. I’m just grateful and thank the Lord that I returned after being over there twice and all the things that we’ve been through,” Baker said. “We got attacked, mortar attack, at least once a week, and then other ground attacks when we left the base to go to other bases.”
Baker said it’s nice to have the wall in Stockton for the Vietnam veterans who remember names of those who served.
“There’s not that many Vietnam vets,” he said. “We are going fast.”
Tino Adame, now 79, was just 19 years old when he went to serve in Vietnam as a United States Marine in the 29th, Third Marine Division. He served for nearly two years.
“Having the wall here in Stockton, we thank Marvin and Linda for bringing it to us, Vietnam veterans, ’cause we’re dying off,” Adame said. “The VA has life expectancy for Vietnam veterans in their late 70s, and we’re very limited … this will be our last hurrah to say goodbye to our brothers and sisters that we lost in Vietnam.”
Adame said seeing the names on the wall was sad because they did not get a warm welcome as other war veterans did.
“It’s sad that we went through that time of century where we didn’t come back and get that welcome home hero parade that War War II veterans. God bless our War II vets, but we suffered and we died and we bled the same way,” Adame said. “That’s why now we Vietnam veterans, we honor, we tell the public, honor our veterans coming back regardless where they serve, how they serve, honor them, respect them.”
Vasquez said the main message to the community with The Wall in Stockton is “To honor and welcome home our Vietnam veterans. They did not get the welcome that our other people from other wars, they were spit on. They were told not to wear their uniforms on the airplane as they were coming home. They were just treated horribly. We encourage them to come and appreciate what they went through and the sacrifices that they made.”
Adame said a name he was going to look for on the wall was of Jerry Kerwin, who picked him up and ran with him when he got hit in Vietnam.
Gwyndell Holloway, an Army Vietnam veteran, now 79, was 18 years old when he went to Vietnam.
“I remember everything because there was a horror over there. I volunteered to go over to Vietnam, that’s what I wanted to do. Watching the news, they showed all the action and I wanted to go see what it was like,” Hollowy said. “Once I got over there, I figured out, ‘oh man, what a mistake I made.’ Then I had to fight to survive, survive the war and I almost didn’t.”
Gwyndell was 29 days short of his one year in war. He served in 1967 and 1968 in the first Tet Offensive.
His main message to the community about The Wall is, “Just come and support the Vietnam veterans and all the veterans that come to the wall and recognize the people that paid the ultimate sacrifice.”
Vasquez said the reading of the names is from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day. To learn more about The Moving Wall, visit themovingwall.org.
Record reporter Angelaydet Rocha covers business and community news in Stockton and San Joaquin County. She can be reached at arocha@recordnet.com or on Twitter @AngelaydetRocha. To support local news, subscribe to The Stockton Record at https://www.recordnet.com/subscribenow.
This article originally appeared on The Record: Stockton welcomes ‘The Moving Wall’ to honor Vietnam veterans
Reporting by Angelaydet Rocha, The Stockton Record / The Record
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