Opening Ceremony At Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall In Brandon Gives Time To Remember, Reflect(October 30, 2009) - # - MyPaperNow.com

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Members of the Brandon High School Junior ROTC participated in the opening ceremony for the Oct. 29 through Nov. 1, 2009 display of the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall at Hillsboro Memorial Gardens in Brandon, Fla. As a tribute "to those who served," the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., also known as "The Wall," stands 240 feet long and eight feet high. According to Dignity Memorial, its wall replica has been displayed in "more than 200 cities throughout the nation." To date, "millions of visitors have seen and touched its black, mirror-like surface inscribed with the names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for flag and country." The traveling replica, like The Wall in the nation's capital, is inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died or are missing in Vietnam. Called both America's longest and most divisive war, the Vietnam War saw nearly 2.7 million Americans serving in the war zone.

Pictured from Brandon High are, from left, Erik Vega, Elizabeth Saenz, Dennis Spiker, Christian Bloom, and Nick Davidson.

"I knew several names on that wall who were very, very personal friends to me," said Captain Eddie Jenkins, at the opening day ceremonies for the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall at Hillsboro Memorial Gardens in Brandon, Fla. He added: "Give a pause in silence to remember those who have made the supreme sacrifice."

Jenkins, who retired from the U.S. Navy, concluded his remarks by saying: "It is the veteran, not the preacher, who has given us freedom of religion. It is the veteran, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the veteran, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote. So the next time you see a veteran you know and within your vicinity I ask that you give him or her a hug and thank them for a job well done."

Armed with a bugle, a veteran's rendition of the emotive and powerful Taps, the traditional call to day's end.

Rick Batchelor, of the United States Postal Service Military Veterans Organization, participated in the opening day ceremony.

Jerold A. "Jerry" Klein served in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968 and today is Florida's State Council President of the Vietnam Veterans of America, founded in 1978 on the founding principle that "Never again will one generation of veterans abandon another." Below is the text of the speech Klein gave Oct. 30, 2009, at the opening day ceremony for the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall at Hillsboro Memorial Gardens in Brandon, Fla.

Jerry Klein's Remarks:

Good morning, ladies and gentleman. Thank you for inviting me to present a few remarks about the memorial, a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that was dedicated in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 13, 1982. I was privileged to be in attendance in Washington, D.C., on that very cold November day. I am pleased to play a small part in the opening ceremony here in Brandon, Florida. However, prior to the dedication of the memorial in Washington, D.C., a controversy arose regarding the design of the memorial. As a member of Vietnam Veterans of American Chapter No. 11, Suffolk County, N.Y., I became involved in that controversy.

Maya Lin's conception was to create an opening, or a wound in the earth, to symbolize the gravity of the loss of the soldiers. The design was initially controversial for what was an unconventional and non-traditional design for a war memorial. The initial impression of hte design as it was presented to the members of Chapter No. 11 was that the proposal was just a hole in the ground. In the days before the Internet and instant communications, the description of the project proposal led VVA Chapter No. 11's leadership to instruct me, as the state council delegate to the New York State Council Vietnam Veterans of America, to register an opinion to oppose the conceptual design of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at a meeting of our state concil. When local opposition reached the members of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, they contacted the leaders of Chapter No. 11 and visited Long Island to present the actual design to the chapter members. Once our members had a chance to see the design up close and personal, the opposition melted. I was immediately contacted at our VVA State Council meeting and instructed to suppor the Maya Lin design. The rest is history.

The memorial has since become an important pilgrimmage site for relatives and friends of the American military casualties in Vietnam, and personal tokens and mementos are left at the wall daily in their memory.

My involvement in Veterans issues today is a result of many factors, not least of which can be attributed to my visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in November 1982. In 1985 I became the first Vietnam veteran hired by Suffolk County, N.Y., as a veterans counselor. Since that day I have dedicated my life by assisting veterans in their dealings with the Department of Veterans Affairs.

I am reminded daily of the sacrifice the Vietnam generation made for our country during the many sessions of benefits counseling I conduct at the Veterans Administration Readjustment Counseling Center in Lake Worth, Fla., and the many years of volunteering at the Vet Center in Babylon, N.Y., and the Northport V.A. Hospital inpatient PTSD program.

VVA has a slogan that is generated from the memories of 40 years ago, when Vietnam veterans were not readily accepted by our veteran contemporaries: "Never Again Will One Generation Of Veterans Abandon Another." The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was designed and built to become a memorial to provide healing for our generation. It has, in fact, become more a symbol to our nation to honor the men and women who serve our nation.

"He was a great man. He was a great leader. He was a great captain," Vietnam veteran Donald Connell said about George L. Barber, who lost his life in Vietnam on March 4, 1968. Donnell went to the stage with prepared remarks, but emotion overcame him. "I have things written down here I can't read," he said. "Capt. Barber has always been a part of my life," Connell said. "I think about him all the time. I knew he had a wife and kids he left behind. He was a great man and I'll remember him all my life, and others who died as well there."

Mothers and wives remember, from left. Marie Cain, Kathy O'Grady, Susan Price, and Marilyn Custer. At right is the wife of speaker Howard Shapiro.

Members of the Brandon High School Junior ROTC participated in the opening ceremony for the Oct. 29 through Nov. 1, 2009 display of the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall at Hillsboro Memorial Gardens in Brandon, Fla. As a tribute "to those who served," the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., also known as "The Wall," stands 240 feet long and eight feet high. According to Dignity Memorial, its wall replica has been displayed in "more than 200 cities throughout the nation." To date, "millions of visitors have seen and touched its black, mirror-like surface inscribed with the names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for flag and country." The traveling replica, like The Wall in the nation's capital, is inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died or are missing in Vietnam. Called both America's longest and most divisive war, the Vietnam War saw nearly 2.7 million Americans serving in the war zone.

Pictured from Brandon High are, from left, Erik Vega, Elizabeth Saenz, Dennis Spiker, Christian Bloom, and Nick Davidson.

Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall at Hillsboro Memorial Gardens in Brandon, Fla. As a tribute "to those who served," the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., also known as "The Wall," stands 240 feet long and eight feet high. According to Dignity Memorial, its wall replica has been displayed in "more than 200 cities throughout the nation." To date, "millions of visitors have seen and touched its black, mirror-like surface inscribed with the names of those who made the ultimate sacrifice for flag and country." The traveling replica, like The Wall in the nation's capital, is inscribed with the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died or are missing in Vietnam. Called both America's longest and most divisive war, the Vietnam War saw nearly 2.7 million Americans serving in the war zone. Pictured from Brandon High are, from left, Erik Vega, Elizabeth Saenz, Dennis Spiker, Christian Bloom, and Nick Davidson." href="javascript:openLB(697526284,'',XLarge,'',1024,681);">

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