A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside. "Your son is here," she said to the old man. She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.
Heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.
The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength. Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile. He refused.
Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients. Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.
Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.
Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her, "Who was that man?" he asked.
The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.
"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."
"Then why didn't you say something when I took you to him?"
"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, I knew how much he needed me. I came here tonight to find a Mr. William Grey. His son was killed in Iraq today, and I was sent to inform him. What was this gentleman's name?"
The nurse with tears in her eyes answered, "Mr. William Grey ..."
The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.

This story is fiction at its best. Considering the wonderful people in our military, I can envision the same result as being true rather than ficticious.

Hicksville Vietnam War Era Memorial

One new name was added in March for a new total of 1,882.  In addition, progress continues to be made on filling in missing data for the Confirmed List of Names.  Unfortunately, no new progress was made on the Unconfirmed List and we urgently need the help of all HixNews readers here.

As previously mentioned, Reserve and National Guard members who served during the Vietnam War Era and otherwise meet all other qualification requirements listed below, now qualify for the Confirmed List of Names.

As a HixNews reader, please continue to help us by reviewing both lists when you select the "click here" options near the bottom of this update with your computer mouse.  To speed the process, just look for names with your class year, or the years you may be familiar with, as a reference and see if you have a new name or some missing data on existing names to email to us.  Class years, where known, are specifically shown to make this effort easier for everyone.  Missing data for names is shown in red, to make it easier for readers to see what's needed.

The Unconfirmed List was created to insure we don't leave anyone behind from earlier class years (the 1940's and 50's) who served during the Vietnam War Era and deserve recognition.  Please see if you can help us establish if these folks served during the Vietnam Era (Vietnam Era dates are shown in the "Memorial Qualifications" section below). 

In early March, a few members of our Project Team worked together to develop the format in which the names listed on the Memorial will appear.  It was decided to list names alphabetically by class year to clearly show the number of people from each class year who served during the Vietnam War Era.  To accomplish this, the Confirmed List was organized by class year, compliments of Tony Plonski.  Jay Tranchina came up with this suggestion and a laser bonding on stainless steel method to display the names on the Memorial, in lieu of cast bronze.  This method should be less expensive, while giving excellent appearance and durability.  Jay had a prospective vendor produce samples, which were then forwarded to Ken Strafer who is putting the samples through weathering tests to verify that the appearance of names and data will hold up over time.  This test should be complete by the end of April.

We are still awaiting confirmation of our petition for not-for-profit (NFP) status from the IRS, in order to proceed with our fund raising plans.  The petition includes establishing a bank account with the name Hicksville Vietnam Era Memorial, LLC.  A tax identification number has already been obtained for this entity.  Ken Strafer has committed to press the IRS for progress status on our case in April to see if he can get them to render a decision in our favor.

Memorial Qualifications:  A person must have been on active duty in one of our Armed Forces, served in the Active Reserves or served in the National Guard during the Vietnam War Era.  Active duty personnel did not necessarily have to serve in Vietnam, because by being in service at that time he or she faced the possibility of being sent to Vietnam and was an integral part of strengthening our Armed Forces during a time of war.

Overall qualifications include:

• must have been a resident of Hicksville at some time before entering our Armed Forces
• must have attended a public, private or parochial high school while living in Hicksville (attendance at HHS not required)
• must have served on Active Duty anywhere in the world during America's Vietnam Era (February,1961 through April,1975), or on Active Reserve or National Guard Duty in the USA during the same period.
• Both men and women qualify (We're stating this since, while a number of women have been added, we still have relatively few on the current list overall)

Our Project Team consists of the following HHS Alumni and Vietnam War Era Veterans and is pleased to add its newest member in Terry Wallace:

·        Ken Strafer, Founder (HHS '62)

·        Joe Carfora, Project Coordinator & Master List (HHS '62)

·        Carl Probst, Input Data, Class of '59 & Others (HHS '59)

·        Tony Plonski, Input Data, Class of '64 & Others (HHS '64)

·        Tommy Sullivan, Press Release Editing (HHS '63)

·        Walter Schmidt, Town of Oyster Bay Veterans Services Officer (HHS '65)

·        Joe Ingino, Veterans Advocate, Hicksville & Long Island (HHS '67)

·        Jay Tranchina, Input Data, Class of '64 & Others, plus local press contact (HHS '64)

·        Bill Walden, Cmdr of Hicksville VFW Post, Site Selection/Approval & Fundraising Leader (HHS '65)

·        Terry Wallace, Input Data, Class of '66 & Others, has fundraising experience (HHS '66)                                                   

Here's what we continue to need from each person reading this to do:

Please click on the following link to review the Confirmed List of Names:  Click here.

Please click on the following link to review the UNCONFIRMED List of Names:  Click here.

If you know of someone who is not listed, or if you have information we are still missing, please send what you have to Joe Carfora at jcar4a@aol.com.  Note:  this is an email address change from past issues due to Joe's move to Florida in April.  Please use the information contained on the current list as a guide for the data needed to complete a name's listing.

Thank you!

The Vietnam War Era Memorial Project Team

Footnote extracted from www.vietnamwar.com:  During nearly 15 years of military involvement, over 2 million Americans served in Vietnam with 500,000 seeing actual combat. 47,244 were killed in action, including 8000 airmen. There were 10,446 non-combat deaths. 153,329 were seriously wounded, including 10,000 amputees. Over 2400 American POWs/MIAs were unaccounted for as of 1973.