THE WALL OF FACES

A butterfly lights beside us like a sunbeam
And for a brief moment its glory
and beauty belong to our world
But then it flies again
And though we wish it could have stayed...
We feel lucky to have seen it.

During a "clandestine, spontaneous happening" at the CPT Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Memorial Day 2020, the "Friends of Rocky Versace" remembered Private First Class Michael Eugene Ludwig, U.S. Army, as well as Alexandria's 67 other Vietnam War Fallen Heroes. A video of the "happening" is available for viewing at this link/URL:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/imz166z2qreygsu/Friends%20of%20Rocky%20Versace%2C%20Memorial%20Day%202020.mp4?dl=0

Dear PFC Michael Ludwig, Thank you for your service as an Infantryman. Your 52nd anniversary is soon, sad. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Sunday was Mother’s Day, but like none other. Time passes quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

The Vietnam Memorial Wall came to South Bend, Indiana in September(2019). My dad(Richard Bargielski) who passed away in 1997 always kept a photo in his wallet and I know one of those guys in the picture got killed in front of him over there. So since it came to our home town I decided to try to find out who the guy was so I got the picture out which I’m going to add. The back of it reads Vietnam firebase-buff, Chu Lai and May 1968. The names on the back of picture were Mike Ludwig, Me(my dad was in the middle) and Walt Nelgon or Nelson(hard to tell if its a g or s). My mom said he kept this photo in his wallet as long as she can remember. My dad went to bootcamp for the army in August 1967 and served in Vietnam from January 1968 to August 1969.

The “Friends of Rocky Versace” remember one of the 67 men whose name is chiseled into stone beneath a Gold Star at Alexandria's Captain Rocky Versace Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Memorial, PFC Michael Eugene Ludwig, on what would’ve been his 71st birthday – 16 August 2018.