A Minnesota PBS Initiative
The Wall Verification Project
The Wall Verification project came about after the VVMF decided to replace the old Wall That Heals. Technology has allowed them to recreate The Wall with this 75 percent sized wall with the names being grooved, allowing folks to make pencil etchings of their loved ones, as people have done at The Wall in Washington DC for the last 36 years.
With the old Wall That Heals beginning to show signs of wear, the VVMF decided to not only replace it, but also correct those errors.
In the past, Wall That Heals visitors would have to request from the on site trailer, that a desired etching would have to go on a list and at some time later, a person would make that etching at The Wall in Washington DC, and mail that piece of paper to them.
At the time Nancy and I visited the VVMF in Washington DC in 2015, there was an elderly lady that took a list from the VVMF every day and would go out to The Wall and do those etchings. Now, those same people will make the etching themselves.
Here is one of the bigger reasons we will have a new Wall That Heals - there were thousands of errors on the old Wall That Heals.
How did the people at the VVMF know - many folks visiting the Wall That Heals made numerous comments. Tim Tetz told me the most common of them typically was - "That's not the way my Brother's name is spelled on The Wall in Washington DC".
So, with the old Wall That Heals beginning to show signs of wear, the VVMF decided to not only replace it, but also correct those errors.
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Tim contacted me and asked if I was interested. He knew I had good detail skills with being a volunteer picture gatherer. Nancy and I were the first people in this country asked to do this. Tim told us something like - we were the canaries in the coalmine.
He sent us a half sized panel (Panel 50 East). Following his instructions we sent it back. In a short time he had 9 or 10 more volunteers. Three are from Minnesota - my friend Jim Sullivan and his wife, and Connie Thedens, another good friend of mine who lost her Brother Kerry Gossman in Vietnam.
Tim suggested that it's probably better for 2 people to work on this. So, my wife Nancy agreed to help. We would print the sheets Tim sent us. Then Nancy would sit beside me by the computer with pencil and the sheets. I would read and spell the names to her. Nancy would make the corrections on the sheets and we would scan and email the sheets back to Tim. I attached a single sheet for you that I titled VVMF Panel 23e. Check it out. There were 27 errors on this sheet, including 21 names out of order and 6 spelling errors. That's a typical sheet.
We found other errors, like some soldiers being named twice on The Wall in Washington DC. The second part of the process was to verify panels a second time. At first, Tim was thinking this would be a different group, but he asked us and others to do second checks, finding much fewer errors.
The third part of the process was to determine those errors and the corrections that would take place. Tim told me sometimes they would have to go out to The Wall and make those determinations themselves. I told you that by the time we were done, Nancy and I had checked over 32,000 names. There are 58,318 names on The Wall this year.
I look at The Wall and The Wall That Heals as documents. Just like the picture project that I have been a part of for 4 years. They are documents that will never be perfect, but we will try to make them as perfect as possible.
How did Nancy and I feel about The Wall That Heals verification project? Honored and privileged to help others remember the men and women that deserved better.
Biographical Details
Submitted From: Cottage Grove, MN
Story Subject: Military Service
Story Themes: Cottage Grove, Herb Reckinger, Memorial, Nancy Reckinger, Read, The Vietnam Memorial, The Vietnam Wall, Tim Tetz, Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Wall That Heals
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