Seven from the Wall-

Remembering Soldiers Listed on the Vietnam Memorial- Wall that Heals

By Steve Newvine

The Wall that Heals on display in front of Merced College. Photo: Steve Newvine

There are over fifty-eight thousand names on the “Wall that Heals”.

This column is about seven of them.

The Merced community has been honored to host the Wall that Heals, the three-quarter representation of the Vietnam War Memorial.

The Merced Breakfast Rotary Club, the group that started the Field of Honor flag tribute on the grounds of Merced College over the past several years, was primarily responsible for getting the traveling exhibit to the community.

For the few days leading up to and including Easter Sunday, the wall allowed many of us to honor the brave soldiers who were killed in action during the Vietnam War.

My family had a soldier who fought and came home from Vietnam. US Army Specialist Four William Newvine served in 1966 and 1967. He made it back but was killed nine months later in an automobile crash.

I wrote about Bill both in this space and in a book (Finding Bill, Lulu Press). He did not talk much about the experience, and I was too young to probe.

Only in my later years, with the help of a man who has made it his life work to honor those who served in the same company as my uncle, did I get to piece together his story. 

As I wrote my book, he connected me with soldiers who knew my uncle. When I told him I was going to Washington, D.C., on business, he asked if I would check in on seven soldiers named on the wall. The book tells the stories of the men who knew my uncle and those from his unit who were killed in action.  

Here is a summary of seven of the more than fifty-eight thousand brave soldiers honored on the wall.

Seven soldiers who served alongside my uncle in Vietnam and who lost their lives on the battlefield. Photos from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (vvmf.org). Photo illustration by Steve Newvine

Armand Auffiere, Donald Evans, and John Faidley were killed on January 27, 1967, in the jungle about two miles from their base camp, attacking a bunker complex manned by Vietcong.

Their unit was hit hard, with two platoons devastated and a third going inactive for weeks after this battle.

Don is the first Medic to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor.

Two medical buildings are named in his honor.

Joseph Noel died Jan 14, 1967. He was killed by artillery rounds that were accidentally sent into his column in response to a fire mission called when the Vietcong were spotted near a rubber plantation.

Tom Nickerson and Clint Smith were killed on March 15, 1967, when attacked while dumping garbage by Vietcong rummaging through the area looking for anything useful. The dump area had been moved, and the new site had no security to protect the men.

Larry Barton was killed on March 21, 1967, at the height of the conflict known as the Battle of Suoi Tre. He was filling in a foxhole as his unit was moving out.

The company was part of a mission that came to the rescue of a firebase that was close to being overrun by the enemy on that day.  

The battle was successful but at a tremendous cost. Larry was among thirty-one Americans killed. It’s estimated the enemy lost eight hundred soldiers, although the official count was six hundred forty-four.

The unit received the Presidential Unit Citation, a prestigious award only ever given during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II.

My uncle knew these men. He even wrote about Tom and Clint in a letter to his sister, Betty. Thankfully, images of those letters have been saved.

The Wall that Heals at night in front of Merced College. Photo: Steve Newvine

The pictures of the seven men who served alongside my uncle were found at the website for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. 

I learned a lot about these men thanks to the dedication of Bill Comeau, who runs the Alpha Association, which connects veterans, especially those from the Vietnam era.

Bill was a company clerk in the War and knew of my uncle. He recalled when he saw Bill Newvine return from a harrowing mission.

“The look on these men’s faces was that of sheer terror. But not Bill. He had a look of serenity, a calmness that communicated maybe he knew more than the rest of us.”  

My uncle Bill Newvine and one of the letters he wrote to family members in my hometown of Port Leyden, New York. Photo: Steve Newvine

Bill Newvine died more than a decade before the Vietnam Memorial opened. I always believed that he would have visited Washington, DC, to pay his respects to his fellow soldiers.  

Losing someone you know is hard enough. Losing seven who served under the conditions of war is hard for many of us to imagine.

I made that visit for him in 2012 in Washington, DC, and this year here in Merced at the Wall that Heals.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His book Finding Bill is still available at Finding Bill - A Nephew’s Search for Meaning in his Uncle’s Life and Death (lulu.com)

Steve is grateful to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund and its website vmf.org for information and pictures of the seven soldiers who served with his uncle in Vietnam and who lost their lives in the War.