6 years ago
On a hot and humid Sunday afternoon, Vietnam Veteran Tom Robinson came to the moving Vietnam Memorial at Mang Park in Kenmore to seek out a comrade's name.
It was the final day the moving memorial wall would be in town, so Warren Hayes decided to look for the name of his childhood friend. They had grown up together. Warren brought along a pencil and paper to place over the name, and pull his friend's name off the wall.
Meanwhile, hundreds more were walking by, some with flowers, some with poems, many with tears. This, after all, had been one of those wars that stirred up so many different emotions. And many loved ones left behind were just relieved that finally the country was paying proper respect to the soldiers of that war.
"There's just so many names on that wall, it just brings back so many memories," said Patti Tripi of Amherst, fighting back tears. "It's just hard to imagine that all those lives were taken.." 58,000 lives in all.
Volunteer Phil Mills with the Marine Corps League says he believes the memorial has made the community more aware of what's going on, particularly with the war currently being fought. "I think a lot has healed over the years, but we never can forget, never ever forget, especially what's going on right now."
Gail Baldson arrived at the wall clutching two P.O.W. bracelets she and her vietnam vet husband have had for decades. One was of the Arizona-Senator-And Presidential Candidate-To-Be John McCain, the other, of Arthur Ecklunn. Ecklunn never made it back, but she says she remembers watching McCain get off the plane and arrive home on American soil.
As for Warren Hayes and Tom Robinson. Each were at the wall, Tom seeking out his fellow soldier's name, Warren, the name of his lifelong friend. That's when Tom noticed Warren lifting the name of Joseph Young from the wall. It was the same Joseph Young that Tom had served with. "For thirty-some years I was trying to locate somebody that knew Joe from our area," said Tom Robinson.
Tom began crying harder as he explained that he had a message from Joseph Young he'd long wanted to deliver. "I was always gonna tell the relatives of Joe that he said, 'tell each I love them.' 35 years later, but I did it," he cried.
The chance meeting struck Warren, too. "I never thought in my wildest dreams that I would ever meet someone who happened to serve with Joey from Western New York and it's a great feeling, it really is."
The crowds that came to view the moving Vietnam Memorial wall exceeded expectations. The accompanying exhibit says that "A visit to The Wall is a powerful emotional experience that teaches us the cost of freedom and inspires our respect for those who defend it."
It also brings together people like Tom Robinson and Warren Hayes, two men who never met, but shared a friendship and love for a soldier who they refuse to forget, 35 years after his death.
