Camp Holloway Discussion Forum - Research Archive - 11/11/00 to 01/21/10

"THE WALL"

Tom Gator 851.

American Forces Press Service
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New Names Etched Into Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall
<http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49804>
By John J. Kruzel
American Forces Press Service Wed, 7 May 2008 14:28:00 -0500

WASHINGTON, May 7, 2008 - The names of four U.S. servicemembers were
etched into the glossy black walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial this
week alongside more than 58,000 of their fallen comrades. Finishing the
addition today was the name of Raymond C. Mason, a Marine lance corporal
who died a year ago as a result of ailing health stemming from a bullet
wound that paralyzed him in February 1968 during the Tet Offensive.

In a ceremony at the wall here, Mason's widow, Priscilla Mason, watched
as an engraver inched a sandblaster over the Marine's stenciled name
with surgeonlike precision.

Priscilla got on bended knee, held a sheet of paper up to the bright,
new inscription, and rubbed a crayon in diagonal strokes until "RAYMOND
C MASON" was embossed against the white paper. She said she plans to
have the outline tattooed onto her skin, and she has promised to make
dozens of rubbings for friends back home in Riverside, R.I., when she
returns here on Memorial Day. "This is wonderful. He's finally home,"
she said when asked how she felt upon seeing the finished product on
Panel 41E, Line 64 of the memorial.

The names of Richard M. Goosens, a Marine lance corporal, and Dennis O.
Hargrove and Darrell J. Naylor, both Army specialists fourth class, were
inscribed here yesterday. The Defense Department determined that their
deaths, which occurred years after the end of U.S. operations in
Vietnam, resulted from wounds suffered in a combat zone there.

The wall's 58,260 etched names bear testament to the ultimate sacrifice
paid by those U.S. troops, said R. James Nicholson, former secretary of
Veterans Affairs. "It's also a tangible expression of the gratitude of
the American people for those who served and died there," he said in an
interview today. "The hope is that more and more Americans will learn
and grow to appreciate the sacrifice and the price that was paid to
perpetuate our freedom."

Designed by architect Maya Lin and built in 1982, the memorial consists
of two black walls sunken into the ground, with a rolling mound of earth
behind it sloping toward a heavily trafficked street. "It was Maya's
vision for the memorial that it appear as a rift in the earth," said
J.C. Cummings, architect of record for the memorial. "At the same time,
the wall serves a practical purpose of separating the visitor from the
noise and the traffic of Constitution Avenue and the noise of the city."
As a result, the architecture creates a quiet and contemplative
atmosphere, he said, a design that allows visitors to have a respectful
experience.

Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Fund, said adding the names this week completes the healing process for
surviving friends and family members. The additions also reflect
America's solidarity with its servicemembers of past and present, he
said.

"When you join the service, you can feel comfortable that the service is
going to stand behind you," Scruggs said in an interview today.
"Especially the people who are serving today in Iraq and Afghanistan in
combat, they need to know that we're behind them and we appreciate what
they're doing."

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