THE WALL OF FACES

Apr 24, 2015 the day cousin Rodney L. Griffin came home thousands of flags lined the route from St Louis to Centralia Missouri. School children lined the roads. Overpasses and state highways were crowded with mourners. Missing 45 years his remains were found at a helicopter crash site in Cambodia near the Vietnam border, and Rodney Griffin was back home.

Dear Sgt Rodney Griffin,
Thank you for your service as an Armor Reconnaissance Specialist. I am glad you were found. WELCOME HOME. It has been too long, and it's about time for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

Rodney was a great guy in school, always smiling & cutting up! Probably left me with a few towels spanks in the men's locker room, but somehow you knew he was a guy who had your back! He left this world 60 years too early but he died fighting for America! He paid the ultimate price, but he is not forgotten. We are so greatful you finally made in home Rodney! Love from all that knew you!

I received Sergeant Griffin’s POW/MIA Bracelet in the 1970s. I just found it while looking through some old items and decided to googled his name. God Bless him and RIP.

2016 MEMORIAL DAY

RODNEY LYNN GRIFFIN

SERGEANT

UNITED STATES ARMY


WASHINGTON, D.C --

On Monday 30 May 2016 at 1 p.m., the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) and the National Park Service (NPS) hosted the annual Memorial Day Observance at The Wall, during which changes to The Wall will be commemorated and all members of America's armed forces who have made the ultimate sacrifice will be honored. This yearly event is always free and open to the public.

Captain Dale A. Dye, USMC (Ret.), a decorated Vietnam veteran, delivered the keynote remarks.

Dye is an American actor, technical advisor, radio personality and writer.

His company, Warriors Inc., is the top technical advisor to Hollywood with work on Forrest Gump, Platoon, Saving Private Ryan, Tigerland, The Thin Red Line, and HBO's Band of Brothers and The Pacific.

The emcee for the ceremony was Major General Mike Nardotti, USA (Ret.), a decorated combat veteran, who served more than 28 years on active duty as a soldier and a lawyer.

Nardotti currently serves on the Board of Directors for VVMF.

The 2016 Memorial Day Observance at The Wall is generously sponsored by the Xerox Foundation, J.P. Morgan Chase & Company, and TriWest Healthcare Alliance.

Each spring, VVMF works with the Department of Defense to make sure The Wall is accurate.

Names are then added for those service members who have met the Department of Defense criteria for addition to The Wall, having sustained wounds in Vietnam from which they eventually perished. Those service members who in the last year were returned or accounted for will have their statuses changed from MIA to KIA.

The names of eight American service members were engraved on the black granite walls of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial over the first week of May, and the status designations were changed for nine others whose names are already on The Wall.

These changes will bring the total number of names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to 58,315 men and women who were killed or who remain missing in action.

When names are added, the highly technical procedure requires meticulous work to match the stroke and depth of the surrounding names to within 1/1,000 of an inch.

The physical work of adding the names and changing designations will be performed by James Lee of the Colorado-based company, Engrave Write.

The Department of Defense sets the criteria for and makes decisions about whose names are eligible for inscription on The Wall while the VVMF pays for the name additions and status changes, and works with the National Park Service to ensure long-term preservation and maintenance of The Wall.

These eight service members will join 58,307 others who lost their lives or remain missing in action as a result of combat in Vietnam:


JEFFERY R. BARBER
LANCE CORPORAL, U.S. Marine Corps
Denver, Colorado
9 October 1950 – 6 September 2011


MICHAEL G. FREY
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS, U.S. Army
Florissant, Missouri
21 October 1949 – 15 September 2014


CHESTER ARTHUR LEDERHOUSE JR
LANCE CORPORAL, U.S. Marine Corps
Ransomville, New York
19 January 1947 – 13 July 1966


JAMES S. McGOUGH
SPECIALIST 4, U.S. Army
Fort Dodge, Iowa
23 February 1951 – 3 January 2014


LEONARD E. OUTLAW SR
ENC, U.S. Coast Guard
Grandy, N.C.
19 December 1936 – 23 March 1972


LEE A. RAWN
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS, U.S. Marine Corps
Lake Worth, Florida
4 May 1946 – 24 April 1967


JIMMY L. SMITH
SPECIALIST 5, U.S. Army
Wasco, Illinois
30 September 1948 – 24 May 2014


JOHN D. STENHOUSE
LANCE CORPORAL, U.S. Marine Corps
Spokane, Washington
13 April 1949 – 15 August 2012


Beside each name on The Wall is a symbol designating status. The diamond symbol denotes confirmed death. The cross represents missing in action. When a service member's remains are returned or accounted for, the diamond is superimposed over the cross.

These nine service members will have their status changed from Missing In Action to Killed In Action:


DONALD GENE CARR

MAJOR, U.S. Army

San Antonio, Texas; Panel 3W, Row 101


RICHARD CHAMP CLARK

LIEUTENANT, U.S. Navy

Tacoma, Washington; Panel 28E, Row 59


KENNETH LEROY CUNNINGHAM

STAFF SERGEANT, U.S. Army

Ellery, Illinois; Panel 17W, Row 33


RODNEY LYNN GRIFFIN

SERGEANT, U.S. Army

Centralia, Missouri; Panel 11W, Row 85


BILLY DURANT HILL

SERGEANT FIRST CLASS, U.S. Army

Fallon, Nevada; Panel 35E, Row 6


JAMES WILLIAM HOLT

MASTER SERGEANT, U.S. Army

Hot Springs, Arkansas; Panel 37E, Row 84


EDWIN EVERTON MORGAN;

CHIEF MASTER SERGEANT, USAF

Salisbury, N.C.; Panel 6E, Row 4


BUNYAN DURANT PRICE JR

STAFF SERGEANT, U.S. Army

Belmont, N.C.; Panel 11W, Row 87


DALE WAYNE RICHARDSON

MAJOR, U.S. Army

Cashton, Wisconsin; Panel 11W, Row 87


About the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) is the nonprofit organization that founded the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) in Washington, D.C. in 1982.

VVMF continues to lead the way in paying tribute to our nation's Vietnam veterans and their families.

VVMF's mission is to honor and preserve the legacy of service in America and educate all generations about the impact of the Vietnam War and era.

VVMF is in the fundraising stages to build the Education Center at The Wall. The Center will be an interactive learning facility on the National Mall where our military heroes' stories and sacrifice will never be forgotten. The Education Center will feature the faces and stories of the more than 58,000 men and women on The Wall and honor America's Legacy of Service, including those serving in our nation's armed forces today. Time Warner is the Lead Gift Benefactor in the campaign to build the Education Center at The Wall.

To learn more about VVMF and the Education Center at The Wall, visit - www.vvmf.org - or call 866-990-WALL.

Nulla dies umquam memori vos eximet aevo

No day will ever erase you from the memory of time

-- VIRGIL from THE AENEID


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