By Oniska Blevins | The Selma Times-Journal

Eight years ago after visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, Janna Hoehn knew she had to do something to honor the thousands of fallen Vietnam soldiers whose names are etched into the wall at the memorial. She was so inspired she found a photo of one of the soldiers and sent it to “Faces Never Forgotten” for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

The goal of the program is to obtain a photo of every fallen hero whose name is etched in the wall.

Of the 58,315 names of soldiers on the wall, 53,000 photos have been collected.

After her submission to the fund, the foundation’s president contacted Hoehn and asked if she would like to help with finding more pictures of the soldiers.

Since 2011, Hoehn has been doing her part in helping and has collected more than 6,000 photos from people all over the United States.

“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,” she said.

Hoehn said she always hoped she could to do something for the Vietnam Veterans because she felt they have never  been properly honored and this was her way of honoring them.

Now the group is asking the community for its help.

“There were 11 young men that died in Vietnam from Dallas County,” she said. “We have all of their photos but three.”

She said the organization is calling on anyone that may know the soldiers or their families and is asking them to send a picture so the soldier’s photo can be represented on the Wall of Faces website.

The group needs a photo for the following soldiers from Dallas County:

Brent P. Cleveland (1949-1971), Freddie L. Johnson (1940-1966) and James H. Marshall (1949-1969).

All of these photos will be submitted to the “Wall of Faces” online memorial with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund website, as well as in the future Education Center that will be adjacent to the Vietnam Wall in Washington D.C.

She also said even if people are not family of the soldier, but know which school they attended that would be helpful information as well.

“Sometimes I have to rely on alumni from these schools if they have their year books, she said. “Sometimes they can help find the photo.”

Another way the community can assist with this task would be to volunteer and be the “boots on the ground” in their community. In the event these photos are not found this individual would do some research in the area by visiting the library to search for obituaries or to a high school to look through yearbooks.

The organization is also looking for photos of fallen soldiers from Perry and Lowndes Counties.

Perry County: Thomas F. Crews (1942-1968) and Abraham Woods (1948-1967)

Lowndes County: Mack A. Knight (1946-1966), Joseph W. McDonald (1949-1970)

Darrol O. Nelson (1933-1966)

To submit photos or information on the soldiers mentioned email Janna Hoehn at neverforgotten2014@gmail.com.