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NEWS&VIEWS by Jacqueline Bennett

Posts tagged “Vietnam Veterans

“Dear Vietnam Veteran” Manchester CT Town Hall Displays ‘Wall of Healing’ Keepsakes

Posted on January 16, 2016

  Write-Up & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   “Dear Vietnam Veteran   Thank you.  We are sorry for the loss of your friends and comrades ..  Thank you for your service and your bravery…”  A note with this message is positioned proudly and prominently in a showcase in the Manchester, Connecticut town hall. The showcase contains a tribute of mementos left beside  “The Wall That Heals”,  a traveling Vietnam Memorial that came to town in October, 2015.   Immediately behind the note, with the American flag as a backdrop and surrounded by white candles, blended together in an oblong bowl are “all petals from flowers left at the wall”. It is an especially touching sight as one pauses to imagine the hands that…

“He was the empty seat at Thanksgiving” Wall That Heals-Vietnam Memorial-Honor, Gratitude, Emotion in Manchester, Connecticut

Posted on October 9, 2015

  Article & Photos by Jacqueline Bennett newsandviewsjb.com   “He was the empty seat at Thanksgiving, the stocking not hung at Christmas, the sibling missing from the photo, the birthday not celebrated. His death became the before and after in the timeline of our lives.” – Emile Miller   Speaking in a sometimes faltered, tearful voice, Emile Miller, the sister of Pvt Keith Alan Miller, U.S.M.C., shared those poignant words Thursday, October 8 during a Memorial Service to honor  “The Wall That Heals”, a Vietnam Memorial visiting Manchester, Connecticut from Oct. 8-11. One of fourteen young men from Manchester killed during the war in Vietnam, the news of Keith’s death on September 7, 1967 changed their family forever and came when she was just…