Hawaii resident reaches out to Hopewell, Petersburg to ID veterans killed in Vietnam
HOPEWELL - A national project to memorialize the faces of veterans killed in the Vietnam War is almost complete. Now it is turning to Hopewell and Petersburg for some of the final pieces of the puzzle.
The Wall of Faces project started with the goal of putting a face to every name listed on the Vietnam War Memorial. To date they have collected, pictures from family, friends, communities, year books and library records. Most of that has been done with outreach to the towns, cities and counties they came from.
Janna Hoehn got involved with the project in 2011. A resident of Maui, she and her husband visited the wall.
“Although I never knew anyone killed in Vietnam, I wanted a rubbing of one of the names,” Hoehn said. “I approached the Wall and choose a name, Gregory John Crossman, an MIA. When I returned home I decided to research Gregory and try to find his family.”
Soon she saw on a Hawaii news station that the Faces Never Forgotten Project was looking for pictures of fallen Vietnam vets. She sent in Crossman’s photo right away. They responded, and asked if she could help find the pictures of 42 Maui County veterans who were killed in the war.
Since then, Hoehn has successfully recovered 7,000 photos through the help of news readers in 28 states.
“My plea is this,” Hoehn said. “If anyone is related, a friend or a classmate to any of the young men on the list I would very much appreciate hearing from you. Even if you don’t have a photo but know which school any of these young men attended, it would be so helpful. We need to obtain a photo of every single Fallen Hero whose names are etched on the wall.”
The Wall of Faces is just 393 faces short of the over 58,000 names inscribed on the memorial.
Of the 15 missing Virginia faces, one is from Hopewell, one is from Petersburg.
Hopewell resident Terry Paul Pierce was killed after being swept away while crossing the Cam Lo River in the Quang Tri Province of Vietnam. He served as a Private First Class in the 94th Artillery Regiment.
Pierce is buried in City Point National Cemetery. Records show his parents to be John P. and Margaret I. Pierce of Hopewell, with three siblings, Tommy, Kim and Sean.
The missing face from Petersburg is Robert L. Pulliam, who lived from 1941-1971. Pulliam was awarded the Bronze Star, given for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement or meritorious service in a combat zone.
Pulliam is also buried at City Point National Cemetery. Records show he is survived by a wife, Delorse S. Pulliam, Parents Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Pulliam from Petersburg. They also indicate he had a son, but no name is given.
Hoehn said that she is also looking for better quality photos for some of the fallen soldiers, with some of the current photos appearing aged or grainy.
Peterburg soldiers in need of better quality photo: John Joseph Bach III, Calvin L. Cheives, Calvin Edward Cooke, George Edward Roye, Thomas Ralph Wells.
One Hopewell veteran could use an updated photo: Robert Gresham Mayes.
“Putting a face with a name changes the whole dynamic of the wall, it keeps our fallen heroes memories alive and will honor them, our heroes stories and sacrifice will never be forgotten,” Hoehn said.
Anyone wanting to search for a name in the online database can go to https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces and use the search feature to type their name.
Photos or information can be sent to Janna Hoehn at neverforgotten2014@gmail.com.
By Sean Jones, Progress-Index Staff
Sean Jones can be reached at sjones@progress-index.com or 804-722-5172.