If you were in Perryville on Saturday, May 18, you might have seen a few more cars around town than usual. As KRCU’s Lindsey Grojean reports, it was opening weekend for the Missouri National Veterans Memorial.
GROJEAN, BYLINE: There was a lot going on in Perryville this weekend. Visitors from out of state were shuttling back and forth from designated parking lots across town, Helicopters were cruising around, overhead...
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GROJEAN: While businesses - like Hoeckele's donuts - were welcoming in hundreds of veterans with their marquee signs for opening day. The memorial, which sits on a piece of farmland outside of town, holds the only replica in the nation of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington D.C. The farmland belongs to Perryville native, Jim Eddleman, and the project was his brainchild. It’s technically been three years in the making. But, a vietnam vet himself, Eddleman has mulled the idea since he came home. On Saturday, he addressed the large crowd.
EDDLEMAN: “You know, I can remember when this land here used to grow corn. And now, it grows people. And I got a good crop.”
GROJEAN: He was joined at the podium by the president of the original memorial wall’s fund, Jim Knotts, who flew in from D.C. He said part of the power of the wall is that those who come can have a healing experience.
KNOTTS: “I truly believe that the wall is one of the instruments that helped our country heal after the vietnam war and it still gives people the opportunity every single day to have their own healing journeys. Right? So the fact is if they cannot make it to Washington D.C., many more people will be able to make it to Perryville and have that same experience.”
GROJEAN: As I walked across the grounds, I came across veteran Mike Johns, who, from a distance, seemed to be giving one of the names on the wall a fist bump.
JOHNS: “That was a good friend of mine from high school, he was a pilot over in vietnam. I was a door gunner. Actually, I was over there before he was. I found out he was in-country, we flew over to see him, and he had just left and never came back. That was his first mission out there and he never came back.”
GROJEAN: “Is he MIA classified?”
JOHNS: “Yeah they never recovered his body.”
GROJEAN: He said Knotts was right. This is a healing experience.
JOHNS: “This is sacred ground. I’m glad it’s here, because D.C. is too far to drive, and I got to all the good traveling walls. To me it’s all solid ground.”
GROJEAN: Speakers were laced across the campus. They were playing recordings -- people reading off names of the deceased.
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“Marvin L. Lindley, Eugene T. McCoy, Rodney J. Holeson. Charles L. Petite. Howard E. Phillips...”
GROJEAN: Sifting through the crowd, I ran into Gov. Mike Parson - who was being shadowed by his great nephew. His tagging along for the day, Parson said, was a great opportunity for him.
PARSON: “He’s travelling with me. One of the things I was hoping kinda that he gets to see is what this is all about, so we don’t forget what happened in that Vietnam era. To all the people that served the country, no matter where they are, and I said that today: we owe our military forces - anybody that serves in the military - we owe them 110% of our support.”
GROJEAN: Another visitor was Rege Riley, national commander of the veterans service organization, AmVets. He’s been with them for 41 years, and served in the U.S. Army from 1970-1974. During our interview, he apologized for getting a little emotional.
RILEY: “Two people I went to high school with are on that wall.”
GROJEAN: “What are their names?”
RILEY: “Carl McCullough and Rudy Biehle. I got to see them today.”
GROJEAN: He said the Eddleman’s did a great job of bringing the memorial to fruition, and that it was truly heartwarming to see them come through on their commitment.
RILEY: “Took him 50 years, but like I said, he kept his promise.”
GROJEAN: Not all visitors at the wall were veterans. Some were distant family members, who had done their research and were coming to see their relatives for a sort of reunion.
PERSON #1: “Reginald was shot down on March the 22, 1971 during operation Lam Son 719. Things fell apart and a lot of guys lost their lives.”
PERSON #2: “It was a very bloody operation, the Lam Son. If you research that, it was a pretty tough going for those guys. And he was one of, like, six helicopters I guess. It was a six-helicopter supply mission. And it was shot down.”
PERSON #1: “And they all four were lost and never found again.”
GROJEAN: At the end of the opening ceremony, the colors were retired, the crowd stood, and children from the United In Christ Lutheran Church sang a few songs.
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For KRCU, I’m Lindsey Grojean.