The Wall That Heals
Submitted by VT Journal on Thu, 07/19/2012 - 9:29am
By Cindy Johnson
SPRINGFIELD, VT -“Let’s make them proud of us.” That was the message that Shirley Sanville has carried down through the years as the wife of U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman Ernest Sanville, who was killed in action in 1968. The Sanvilles had been married for 4 years and Shirley was 7 months pregnant with the couple’s second daughter when Ernie shipped out for Vietnam. Their new baby girl was six-weeks-old when Shirley got the news that Ernie had been killed. Before Ernie left “we didn’t talk about the war, we just hoped it would end,” Shirley told the crowd that gathered to dedicate the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall in Riverside Park on Saturday. “They told me to call when the baby came,” she said, but the news didn’t make it through till she had sent a photograph of the baby. Forty-four years later, Shirley’s message for those left behind is to make a difference in the world now, as a legacy to those who died.
Ronny Walker, chairman of the committee that brought the Wall to Springfield, changed his mind and declined to speak at the ceremony, but he wanted to express his thanks to all those who donated and volunteered to make this long overdue event happen. Over one hundred people from all over Southern Vermont came to sit round-the-clock to honor and preserve the Wall while it was here. Ronny’s gratitude to those who donated generously and those who came to help is immense. “A lot of people said this was impossible,” said Walker, overcome with emotion. Though he put many hours of hard work into the yearlong process that went into the arrival of the Wall, it was never Ronny’s wish to be the center of attention. Ronny’s wish is to publicly honor the memory of Walter Singleton who was killed in action the day Ronny Walker was wounded.
There were many moving moments from the ceremony, particularly Ronny Walker’s entrance on to the field at the head of the 93 motorcycles participating in “The Wall” processional; the military honor guard & colors, and firing squad’s 21-Gun Salute for the fallen; student and Springfield native Erika Grace Anderson’s stirring rendering of The Spirit of The Wall by Judy Gorman King; the Springfield Community Band playing the anthems for each branch of the service as veterans stood at attention while their service song was played; and the beautiful boutique of flowers given in appreciation to Liz Walker, Ronny’s wife, for working beside her husband to bring this tribute to Springfield.
58, 272 Americans are listed on “The Wall”, 138 are names of Vermonters. 7,236 Vermonters served in Vietnam, many of those still among us as our friends and neighbors.
The Wall will be moving on to Hogansburg, NY on Monday. Recordings of the ceremony are available for purchase at www.sapatv.org/program-duplication.
“But this is a wall of love
We hope that’s what everyone feels
And the warm spirits of all the ones
That surround ‘The Wall that Heals’” –The Spirit of The Wall by Judy Gorman King
Food for thought.....The panels extend for about a nine year span. Imagine if the war had ended a month earlier how many names would not be on that wall. Imagine if the war had ended two years earlier......how about 5 years earlier? What if the war had only lasted for 3 years? How small would the wall be? What if the war had never happened? How many of those 58,000 plus would still be alive today and would have raised families and added to our economic and gene pool in thousands of ways?
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