• Monday-What'sUP July 14 - 08:47 pm

Yesterday's Pasty Cam highlighted the Moving Wall, which was here in Calumet for several days, with today being the final day to go and visit this moving memorial to the 58,236 service members who gave their all during the Vietnam War.

Today's photos were snapped by Melanie Hakala Rossi who visited the wall and attended the ceremonies honoring these fallen Veteran's. Melanie had a personal stake in doing so, as her uncle, Dale Moilanen was one of these brave service members being honored. I was told the number of fallen from the Keweenaw is 15 and the wooden crosses you see in front of the Wall, each represent one of these men. It lists their rank, branch of service, name, home city, location of the name on the Wall panel, date of birth and the date they were killed in action. After the closing ceremonies, the families will be given these crosses in memory of their loved one.

As Charlie said in his notes yesterday, there were a lot of emotions for the folks visiting the wall, some knelt and made a "rubbing" of their loved ones name, others stood and paid their respects, pointing the names out to friends and relatives.

There were many volunteers that made this visit from the touring Moving Wall happen, including Jr. ROTC members who participated in the ceremonies, along with local Veterans, who honored their fallen brothers, too.

I had the opportunity to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. a few weeks ago, with emotions running high, finding, reading and photographing the names of local service members listed there on the wall. Visiting this smaller version evoked the same emotions. What a wonderful opportunity this provided to family and friends that cannot make the trip to D.C. to visit the Wall there. A BIG thank you is in order, to all those that made this event possible.

very emotional and moving. utmost respect and 'thanks' who serve, past, present and even future, in the military.

I agree.

Melanie, thanks for the pictures. I knew Dale and I still grieve for his families' loss and for Edward Kolka , my high school classmate and neighbor. Both men served their country with honor and dignity. Both were from Dollar Bay a closeknit community.

What a wonderful memorial for those to help find peace and closure with family and friends who gave their all for us and our country.

I salute those listed on the Moving Wall, and all those who have fought on other fields of battle in the past and present, and have given their all for the freedom we Americans are blessed with!

We should also remember the way the returning Vietnam Vets were treated. The name calling. The spitting on and harassment. 'Baby killers' they were called. What kind of people are they that criticized that way???

I visited a friend who was a Navy corpsman. . He was killed
next to me in Oct 1970 in the Que Son mountains while trying
to get to the wounded Marines.
His brother came to visit me a couple of years ago after he
read a post I put on the Wall site about him.
He was also a Vietnam vet and wanted to know how he died
after 40 years.
A lot of healing goes on there. Imagine a ten year period of
time when a good momth is only 100 young Americans killed
in action. The average was close to 500 a week.

Wonderful pictures; thank you for posting. Let us
never forget their sacrifice.

That was 500 a month average.

There were just too many precious lives lost, Neil, no matter the time span. So sad.

War is never good. So many lives lost. It's just so sad :-(

It's so good to see the Vietnam vets finally be
honored, rather than be called 'baby killers'. When
my Uncle came back thru SanFran they told him to
change out of his uniform as quickly as he could;
but he was still accosted in the airport. Just what
someone returning from war needs.

The types of ceremonies held this weekend is just
what should be done for these Vets.

Nothing bothered me more then my mother in law asking how I liked my vacation she paid for. I still have ill feelings about how we were treated. Just typing this has me reliving many nasty moments when I came home. The guy that spit on me was surprised when he hit the ground. Called me a Nazi for defending myself.

I could never figure why any one of us in uniform were the target of the protesters. That was the era of the draft - most of us had no choice. It was either get drafted and serve, enlist to get at least some control of our service, or leave the country. One way or the other, if you were a healthy male aged 18 to 26, Vietnam affected you. Those of us in uniform were not the cause. They, the protesters, needed to spit on the long line of politicians who got us into that war.

Good for you, Mikie!!

And I totally agree with you, Paul!!

Very sad, Mikie. And Paul, you are totally correct. People were totally cruel!

We went to see the wall on Sunday. The wooden crosses were beautifully done. It reminded me how fortunate we are that my Dad came home. He wasn't injured but its the scars you can't see that really last.

Like Mary Drew, I visited the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C.
I remember looking for the names of the people I had known who
died over there. I found Philip Onkalo from Baltic's name, and
Daniel Schmidt's, an old flame from high school days in Detroit.
Seeing my own face reflected back while reading the names of
those who had died was what I found the toughest. While
remembering how young they were, you were confronted by your
own image-- you who had the good fortune to have lived so long.
Devastating.

I'm glad the Wall is coming to those who haven't had the chance to
feel its power first hand.