John S. Kmiec.
It was one of the names James Paicz, of Monee, came to find on The Wall That Heals in Chicago Heights. Paicz, originally from Chicago, served the United States Army during the Vietnam War and had two friends die there.
“One was a Marine and it should have been me, but he decided to take the grenade and I lived,” Paicz said of Kmiec. “It’s important that people realize the bond we had that one man is willing to give his life for another to live. I’m the luckiest man in the world because he gave his life for me. It’s that simple.”
Paicz said he visits the traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial walls every chance he gets. He did so again Saturday, just before a candlelight vigil held at The Wall That Heals, which has been displayed since Wednesday outside Marian Catholic High School in Chicago Heights.
The Wall That Heals is a traveling three-quarter-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It was escorted to Chicago Heights Tuesday, constructed Wednesday and open around the clock. A closing ceremony was held Sunday afternoon.
LeRoy Jaworowski, of South Chicago Heights, has seen the original memorial in Washington as well as moving walls on three occasions. Jaworowski served the U.S. Army in Vietnam and said he visits to see the names of the guys, all 19 or 20 years old, he knew who did not come home.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to make it home and marry a wife and raise a family,” Jaworowski said. “Whenever I think of these guys, especially on Memorial Day or any kind of holiday, I think they never had a chance to come home to even have a life, never knew the joys of being around friends again, raising a family. That’s what bothers me.”
When it came time for Jaworowski to lay his candle near the wall during the vigil, he said he thought of John A. Prombo. Jaworowski went to school at St. Agnes with his sister, and Prombo ended up serving as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam.
“I was just going into high school when he got shot down in the helicopter,” Jaworowski said. “I promised her I’d be here tonight. I took a picture of his name and sent it to her.”
LaMarr Moragne, of Chicago Heights, volunteered at The Wall That Heals every day it was at Marian Catholic High School. He saw firsthand the impact it had.
“I try to hold back the tears, but it’s hard,” he said. “I’ve heard in the three days I’ve been out here hundreds of stories of people who will never forget this war.”
Moragne said he is a member of AM I My Brothers Keeper Outreach Church, which does a lot of volunteer work with Bloom Township. But his reason for volunteering was also personal. He served in the U.S. Navy, has been to the wall in Washington and volunteered with a traveling version before.
“It’s solemn,” Moragne said. “I’m not just helping them. I’m remembering people that I grew up with whose names are on that wall. It’s very close to my heart, because I finally found the names of the people I grew up with who died defending this country.”
Joe Fiaoni, director of school safety at Marian Catholic, helped put up on the wall Wednesday and was there again Saturday for the candlelight vigil. He said he served the U.S. Army during peacetime.
“I got lucky,” he said. “Too young to go to Vietnam.”
But Fiaoni said Gary A. Barnard, of Chicago Heights, whose name was read during the vigil, used to watch him and his brother.
“He went to Vietnam in ’68,” Fiaoni said. “Three months later, he was dead and we were devastated. So this thing means the world to me.”
Carlos Saladino, of Chicago, served in the U.S. Army and said he visited the wall Saturday because he knows 13 names on it.
“We went to get special forces out and they were waiting for us,” Saladino said.
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Saladino noted there are only 600,000 Vietnam veterans still alive in the United States. He has remained active in veterans groups.
“We have to keep history going,” he said. “I always say there’s a reason I’m here, and maybe this is one of them.”
The vigil started with a prayer by Bishop Ronnie White and the national anthem. It included a moment of silence for those who died, a round of applause for the veterans and the playing of taps after people laid candles.
Bloom Township Supervisor TJ Somer said bringing the wall to the township happened with great community cooperation and wonderful volunteers. He has spent time there every day, meeting veterans and hearing their stories.
“It’s cathartic for everybody. I think that’s what the wall was meant to do,” Somer said. “I don’t think we’ll ever again be able to experience something like we did by having the wall here now.”
Somer read the names of Bloom Township residents who appear on the wall. They are Robert A. Baetzel, Gary A. Barnard, Juan R. Garcia, Juan Masillo, John A. Prombo, William H. White and Gary R. Wilson from Chicago Heights; Jeffrey C. Lemon from Flossmoor; Paul R. Severson and Scott E. Wise from Glenwood; Park G. Bunker, William E. Cofran, Thomas H. McGrath, William J. Oskilanec, James H. Ward and Philip O. Zum Mallen Jr. from Homewood; Ronald L. Beuster, Albert C. Brose, Danny J. Corrigan, Donald G. Disselkoen, Robert A. Federowski, Charles L. Keller, Andrew R. Sabo, Richard G. Schroeder, Theodore A. Trock and Gene L. White rom Lansing; Louis L. Goers, Lyle W. Hansen, Medford S. Hensley Jr., Robert M. Keene, Harold W. Maddox, Clarence A. Miller Jr. and Clark R. Pedersen from Steger; James A. Branch, Rodney O. Davie, Robert W. Grant, John T. King, John A. La Bundy, Gary R. McHugh and Joseph J. Passavanti III from Park Forest; and Michael A. Giunta from South Chicago Heights.
The Wall That Heals is backed by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. It tours the country seasonally along with a mobile education center. While the wall has been upgraded over the years, it has toured in some form since 1996. This marks the first time it has been hosted by Bloom Township, but it previously appeared in Oak Forest. A half-sized replica called The Moving Wall has appeared in New Lenox and Hazel Crest.
Bill Jones is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.