Armwood High student Jeffrey Prelich traces a slain soldier's name. Prelich's assignment was to locate the names of soldiers Gregory Rea Denton, Danny Arnold Dolin, and Derrell Loial Ponder, who was born in Plant City, Fla., and died on Oct. 29, 1970. Ponder would have turned 59 on the day the Armwood students visited the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall, on display at Hillsboro Memorial Gardens & Dignity Memorial from Oct. 29 through Nov. 1, 2009. Denton, born in 1950, shares the same birthday as Prelich and Dolin died on that same day, in 1966. That was the intent of teacher Bruce Burnham's assignment. Burnham, a Vietnam veteran himself, gave each of his students three names to research. He matched with each student soldiers who were born and who died on the student's birthday and a third soldier who died at about the same age as the student.

Burnham for years has taught a class in the History of the Vietnam War. His students, along with other high schoolers in the Hillsborough County School District, visited the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall on Oct. 29 at a time set aside for students. The memorial is a replica of the Vietnam Vetearns Memorial in Washington, D.C., also known as "The Wall."

According to the program for the memorial, "the traveling replica is inscribed with the names of mroe than 58,000 Americans who died or are missing in Vietnam. The Dignity Memorial network of funeral, cremation, and cemetery service providers created the memorial in 1990 as a service to those Americans who might never travel to the nation's capital to experience "The Wall" firsthand. Honoring all U.S. veterans and dedicated to Vietnam veterans, the faux-granite replica is 240 feet long and eight feet high. To date, the replica has been displayed in more than 200 cities throughout the nation. 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."

Armwood High student Jeffrey Prelich traces a slain soldier's name. Prelich's assignment was to locate the names of soldiers Gregory Rea Denton, Danny Arnold Dolin, and Derrell Loial Ponder, who was born in Plant City, Fla., and died on Oct. 29, 1970. Ponder would have turned 59 on the day the Armwood students visited the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall, on display at Hillsboro Memorial Gardens & Dignity Memorial from Oct. 29 through Nov. 1, 2009. Denton, born in 1950, shares the same birthday as Prelich and Dolin died on that same day, in 1966. That was the intent of teacher Bruce Burnham's assignment. Burnham, a Vietnam veteran himself, gave each of his students three names to research. He matched with each student soldiers who were born and who died on the student's birthday and a third soldier who died at about the same age as the student.

Burnham for years has taught a class in the History of the Vietnam War. His students, along with other high schoolers in the Hillsborough County School District, visited the Dignity Memorial Vietnam Wall on Oct. 29 at a time set aside for students. The memorial is a replica of the Vietnam Vetearns Memorial in Washington, D.C., also known as "The Wall."

According to the program for the memorial, "the traveling replica is inscribed with the names of mroe than 58,000 Americans who died or are missing in Vietnam. The Dignity Memorial network of funeral, cremation, and cemetery service providers created the memorial in 1990 as a service to those Americans who might never travel to the nation's capital to experience "The Wall" firsthand. Honoring all U.S. veterans and dedicated to Vietnam veterans, the faux-granite replica is 240 feet long and eight feet high. To date, the replica has been displayed in more than 200 cities throughout the nation. 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."