VIETNAM VETERANS OF OREGON LIVING MEMORIAL
"remember us. so long as we are not forgotten, we do not die"
OUR FALLEN
VIETNAM VETERANS OF OREGON
LIVING MEMORIAL
"Roll Call" just seems a more resonating title than "List." As for the hyphenated numbers for each of the Fallen, they are indicators to guide you right to the Alcove, the Panel, and the Line where that man's name has been engraved.
And so, 3-23-10 is a name to be found on Alcove 3-Panel 23-Line 10.
Six Alcoves set along the spiral path reflect the chronology of the war. The names of our Fallen are shown based on when they fell. The names here are alphabetized to make them simple to find. An Alcove has 25 vertical panels. Lines are horizontal; count top to bottom.
This information is from VVOMF's History & Directory of Names. You can view this booklet as a PDF or download it. Click or tap here. Each man's date of birth and death is in the booklet. These Roll Calls are more for viewers who wish to locate a man's name quickly.
VIETNAM VETERANS OF OREGON
LIVING MEMORIAL
This Roll Call has 7 web pages with 120 (or so) names per page except for the final page. 805 Oregonians fell in Vietnam. Not all the remains have been found and brought home. The effort to find our missing comrades goes on. We will never give up on finding them.
The purpose of memorials across the incredible range of cultures is a window on what we as a species value and honor. We value and honor and display a certain set of fundamental virtues in our memorials that define, support, and defend the cultures we live within.
Over 800 Oregon men were killed in Vietnam fighting in behalf of the values we'd grown up with. But if asked to explain why they were fighting this war in the paddies and jungles of SE Asia, most might have shrugged. Why? They are Americans, that's why.
No wife, parent, son, daughter, or friend of someone killed doing his duty in Harm's Way should regard that loss as without meaning to those living in SE Asia. We did obstruct the spread of communism even if South Vietnam did not survive. They did not die in vain.
American values are magnets for millions of people whose lives (in the cages of their own cultures) are oppressively laid out for them. America is the constant hope of such people. And we who fought and died in Vietnam, we offer them a chance to escape such cages.
LET FREEDOM RING
