James Carlton Jr. John F. Bense Jr. Francisco Garza. Royd S Kerle Jr. James M. McGarvey. Ronald Bruce.
Thousands of names – 58,000 of them, in fact – listed on dozens of black panels, stretching the length of a football field, all known or assumed casualties of the Vietnam conflict (the United States never declared it a war).
It is called “The Wall that Heals,” a ¾ replica of the Vietnam Wall Memorial that sets in Washington D.C. and travels to cities across the nation every year. It arrived in New Bern as the first stop of its 2021 tour, escorted by 450 motorcycles to Lawson Creek Park.