It was poignant and bittersweet for the Vietnam veterans who arrived at Wickham Park this week for the opening ceremony of the Vietnam Traveling Memorial, many of them carrying with them the memories and trauma of previous decades along with the flags and memorabilia of their service.
Monday evening a group of veterans took part in placing wreaths at the wall and conducting the opening ceremony at the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall at Wickham Park in Melbourne. The 300 foot 3/5th scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will be in place all week, and the 36th Florida Vietnam and All Veterans Annual Reunion, hosted by Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard, runs from Thursday through Sunday.
The patriotic tribute, which kicks off this annual reunion, featuring honor guards, commemorations and silent reflection. Volunteers and veterans spent painstaking hours erecting the wall, which will be open for visitors 24 hours a day during the reunion.
Vivid memories of Vietnam War
Mike Echols was barely out of high school on his first deployment as a U.S. Army medic to Vietnam in late 1968, but he carries with him the vivid memories of violence, seeing the horrors of war firsthand even six decades after the fact. “I’ve never come to one of these before, but I see it now,” he said. Echols had driven with his wife from Martin County for the ceremony. “Being at something like this lets you know you’re not alone.” “A lot of these guys saw and went through worse stuff than I did. We help each other, that’s what it’s all about for me,” he added.
Doc Russo, the chairman of Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard, has been organizing the traveling memorial wall at Wickham Park for 36 years. The event is part of the annual reunion of Vietnam Veterans who converge in Brevard County to pay homage to the comrades they lost and remember their service in one of America’s longest wars.
This will be the last year his organization is handling the traveling wall, which will be taken over by a group of younger veterans with the nonprofit Veterans Memorial Reunion Inc.
“It most definitely rejuvenates us guys that these younger guys are willing to take over. It’s a good core group that we have,” Doc Russo said. “Most of them have been coming to the reunion for years. So they know what happens here. They just don’t know the behind the scenes. We definitely have confidence in them.”
Russo echoed what veterans like Echols said about the events, that it provided a therapeutic outlet for those who served in some of the most brutal conditions imaginable. “This reunion is basically a safe place. They can come and talk to anybody about anything. And they’re going to find someone who’s been there and done that and talk to somebody who isn’t necessarily a 20-something therapist just out of school,” Russo added.
The transition of leadership for the Vietnam Memorial Wall comes two years after Russo was charged by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, which regulates charitable organizations, with two third-degree felonies: submitting false information on a document and failure to register as a charitable organization.
The FDACS bank review showed employees were compensated with money that was not reported between February 2020 and April 2020, the affidavit said. That case is currently still pending in the court system.
Tyler Vazquez is the North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or tvazquez@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @tyler_vazquez
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Veterans bring memories to Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall in Melbourne