Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
SYRACUSE - From December 1967 to November 1968, Butch Ritter, of Syracuse, was in Vietnam.
He viewed the traveling Vietnam Wall for the first time Wednesday.
"A lot of names ... A lot of dead bodies," he said as he reflected on the 58,229 names on the wall.
"And the 2,500 that Nixon and Kissinger left over there," he added.
The names on the wall include three of Ritter's buddies he grew up with in the Ligonier-Goshen area.
Syracuse Police Chief Tom Perzanowski, also a Vietnam veteran, described the memorial wall with a single word: "Awesome."
"I knew a lot of people who went over there and never came back. I'm going to get etchings of all their names from the wall," Perzanowski said.
Steve Hite, director of the Syracuse Chamber of Commerce, was instrumental in organizing fund-raising and logistics to bring the wall to town.
"I wanted to get it here so we could remember the veterans, honor those who served and help in the healing process," Hite said.
The wall is four-fifths the size of the stone wall in Washington, D.C. It includes the names of 40 men from the area or with ties to the area. The wall set-up began at 9 a.m. Wednesday on Liberty Lot Field, off Sycamore Street, behind Calvary United Methodist Church and Pizza King, Syracuse.
It will remain in place through Saturday, when a parade will begin at 10 a.m., followed by a memorial service at 12:30 p.m.
Marines will provide a color guard with "Taps," a 21-gun salute and two Humvees for the memorial service. The Army will provide its "Army of One" Hummer and a rock-climbing wall.
The Navy is slated to provide an F-18 flight simulator and a boat float. The Navy band from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center RTC will be a part of the parade and service.
At the end of the memorial service, there will be a flyby from the Fort Wayne Air Force Reserves featuring reserves F-16, Blackhawks and UH-1.
While the wall is in place, there will be a 24-hour candlelight vigil, with all 58,229 names being read.
The Indiana National Guard helped erect the wall and will provide 24-hour guard duty.
