A cold September mist hung over Neahwa Park as Oneonta Middle School and Oneonta High School social studies students approached The Wall That Heals. Stretching 375 feet across the grass and rising to 7.5 feet at its tallest point, the memorial was striking even from a distance. Up close, students encountered its thousands of names, including those of nine young men who once attended Oneonta High School.
During their visits on September 24 and 25, students explored the mobile Education Center and saw examples of the personal tributes visitors have left at the memorial in Washington, D.C. More than 400,000 items have been left there since it opened. Students read heartbreaking words from family members whose loved ones never came home. Students also learned that the youngest person named on the Wall was only 15 years old and that the average age shared at the exhibit was 23 years and one month.
The traveling memorial is a three quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Its panels bear 58,281 names. Eight of those names belong to women, all nurses.
A number that large can be hard to comprehend. At the Wall, visitors can pause at a single name. They can think about the person it belongs to and the people who waited for that person to come home. For Oneonta students, the nine former OHS students make that history especially close. Some graduated before going to war; others left high school to serve. All nine lost their lives.
They were young men from this community before they were names on a national memorial. They belonged to families here. They shared classrooms and hallways with other Oneonta students. Their lives remain part of our school’s story, and we have a responsibility to remember them.
Recently, the OHS Alumni Association inducted the nine men into its Wall of Distinction as a group. Their plaque now hangs alongside those honoring other distinguished alumni. Students who pass it in the school building have a chance to learn that these nine men were Yellowjackets, too.
We also honor the Vietnam veterans who returned home. Their service did not end with their return, and many carried the effects of the war into the years that followed. To those veterans, and to everyone who served our country, we offer our gratitude. We remember with particular sorrow the nine men from OHS who gave their lives.
Seeing The Wall That Heals in Oneonta is a powerful experience. Its presence at Neahwa Park gives our students and neighbors time to learn, remember and reflect together, here in the community these nine young men once called home.
The exhibit will remain at Neahwa Park through September 27. It is free to visit and open 24 hours a day. We encourage families and community members to spend time there and to remember the individuals behind the names.
Our nine OHS alumni can be found at these locations on the Wall:
Class of 1963
Richard G. Kohland, Lance Corporal — Panel E29, Line 67
Class of 1965
Burdette D. Townsend Jr., Chief Warrant Officer 2 — Panel W1, Line 46
George F. Reynolds Jr., Corporal — Panel W28, Line 85
Class of 1966
Donald A. Rittlinger, Lance Corporal — Panel W36, Line 65
William B. Jones, Private First Class — Panel W31, Line 50
Robert M. Dwyer, Lance Corporal — Panel E20, Line 89
Class of 1967
Arthur D. Elmandorf, Private First Class — Panel W52, Line 9
Robert A. Wiedeman, Lance Corporal — Panel E41, Line 33
Class of 1968
James C. Wheeler, Specialist 4th Class — Panel W10, Line 73
