Letter discusses finding photos of Selma’s fallen heroes
Published 5:18 pm Friday, January 1, 2016
Dear editor,
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which built the Vietnam Wall in 1982, seeks to honor all Vietnam veterans and help heal the nation’s wounds from the Vietnam War.
As they continue their mission, they are seeking to connect a face with every name on the Wall through both their interactive digital Wall of Faces as well as in the future Education Center.
In an effort to help fulfill this mission, AP U.S. history students at Auburn High School are seeking the state’s help in providing photographs to honor the memory of the fallen soldiers from Alabama.
As of Dec. 2015, eight of Selma’s 10 casualties in the Vietnam War still do not have photographs representing them (641 of the 1210 casualties from Alabama lack images).
Your help in finding photos of the following fallen heroes from Selma would be greatly appreciated: Frederick Douglas Barge; Carl Lee Brown; Brent Phillip Cleveland; Freddie Lee Johnson; James Henry Marshall; James Mooney; Ronnie Sharpe; and Townser Steele Jr.
For those with information or photos of these heroes, please contact Blake Busbin, Auburn High AP U.S. history teacher, at wbbusbin@auburnschools.org.
Families and friends can also submit photos to the Wall of Faces site, by going to www.vvmf.org and clicking the Wall of Faces link. The Wall is searchable by name and, from the advanced search link, veterans can be found by state, county, branch, rank or date of casualty.
Blake Busbin
Auburn