Perryville hosts service with Vietnam Wall replica

~ Editor's note: The following story has been edited to correct the spelling of Gen. Frank J. Grass' name.

PERRYVILLE, Mo. -- Speaking near a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, U.S. Army Gen. Frank J. Grass told a large crowd Saturday the 58,249 American servicemen and women who died in Vietnam accomplished much more than is generally understood.

"Among the things they gave to today's military is the Golden Hour, guaranteeing that we never launch a service member into combat without having a helicopter that can take them to a medevac within an hour," said Grass, a native Missourian who commands the National Guard as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

He said the military's reintegration programs for veterans and their families were prompted by Vietnam experiences and that soldiers' remains now are always escorted home by a general officer.

Noting that about 300,000 Americans were wounded in the war in southeast Asia, the four-star general said: "There were many more with injuries and psychological pains that we will never know, but they were there for us when our nation called."

Drawing applause, Grass said: "We never gave them a welcome home, and I don't think we can ever say 'welcome home' enough to our Vietnam veterans."

He said 1,433 Missourians died in the war, including at least four from Perryville.

Before the program Saturday at the Bank of Missouri Soccer Complex, Grass said Southeast Missouri's National Guardsmen and women have served commendably in Iraq and Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Reporting that 716,000 Guard members have served, many in multiple deployments, he particularly cited soldiers from Pierce City, Festus's 220th Engineer Company and the Cape Girardeau-based Headquarters Company of the 1140th Engineer Battalion.

"When you walk into a FOB [forward operating base] or the outlying areas, you cannot tell the difference" between Guardsmen and regular Army soldiers, Grass said. "They're all working together."

Headquarters Company Lt. Brian Randolph of Cape Girardeau said about 15 soldiers from Cape Girardeau, Perryville and Fort Leonard Wood helped with Saturday's program, which opened with the posting of colors.

Spectators filled six bleachers on a hot day, others stood and watched, and others listened from the nearby shaded Wall that Heals museum and concession stand areas.

After Mayor Ken Baer gave a welcome, local veteran Gary Ernst explained the contents of the POW-MIA Table in front of the podium and narrated a ceremony honoring soldiers held prisoner or declared missing in action.

Norman "Deacon" Matthews of Festus, a member of the VFW Riders and a Navy and Army veteran, said the ceremony and other events of Vietnam Veterans Week here "is not exactly for remembrance, because we don't forget."

"I don't think you can place a value on it," Matthews said. "Everybody has one goal and one thing in mind."

Perryville veterans Moxie Weinhold and Delmar "Big D" Besand said their Air Force service in the 1960s made seeing the half-size replica wall an emotional experience. "It brings back a lot of memories, good and bad," Weinhold said. "There is a lot of camaraderie among the guys who were there."

Besand said the group of veterans at the ceremony "is a family."

"We were all over there," he said. "We all did it."

Erika Ross, an official who travels with The Wall that Heals, estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people would visit during its four days here.

Ross said 72 of the wall's 140 panels carry the names of soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen who died in 1968.

A highlight of the program was the playing of service themes by a five-piece local instrumental group, during which veterans of each branch stood and were applauded.