Many stories told at traveling Vietnam wall

FOSTORIA — Richard B. Savieo, of Bloomdale, has only vague memories of his father. His dad, Richard H. Savieo, of Fostoria, died as a U.S. Marine while serving in the Vietnam War in 1970. The younger Savieo, now 58, was 3 when his father was killed. "I remember him being around the house," he said of his father, who was just 21 years old when he died in 1970. Richard H. Savieo is one of the more than 58,000 whose names are on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., having been among Americans who were killed or went missing during the Vietnam War. Nine men from Fostoria, including the elder Savieo, have their names on the wall. The Florida-based Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall came to Fostoria on Thursday and was scheduled to leave today. The traveling wall is a three-fifths-sized replica of the actual memorial. Richard B. Savieo was seeing his father's name on the traveling wall for the first time on Friday after having been to the memorial in Washington in 1985. Savieo was emotional as he said he learned about his father from friends and relatives. "They've told me he was a great Marine who saved lives more than once," he said.Like many others who visited the traveling wall during its local stay, Savieo was given a slip of paper and a pencil to trace over his loved one's name. "I was closer to him for a minute, I guess," he said. Savieo was one of many who had stories to tell while visiting the traveling wall, which sat alongside the south parking lot of Fostoria Junior/Senior High School, with the Eyes of Freedom Gulf War Memorial, based in Columbus, nearby. Maryalice Hampshire, of Fostoria, visited the wall on Friday to see the name of her brother, Robert Hampshire, who was a 21-year-old member of the Army from Fostoria when he died in Vietnam in 1968. Maryalice was a month away from her seventh birthday when her brother was killed. "It's still rough," she said while standing at the wall in between her daughter, Shelagh Daughenbaugh, and granddaughter Alexandria Daughenbaugh. "It was hard to take. It was traumatic, to say the least." Hampshire said she's now seen the traveling wall three times in Ohio. She's not seen the original memorial in person. "Maybe one of these days I'll get to D.C., to see it," she said. "But it's hard to tell. My mom had the opportunity to go see the (traveling wall), but she wouldn't do it. She wanted to see the one in D.C., but she never got to go." Toby Colbert, of Fostoria, is a U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War who played roles in bringing the traveling wall and Eyes of Freedom to Fostoria. He'd seen the traveling wall several times before, but it was special, he said, to be in the south parking lot of the school when the wall's trailer pulled in. Colbert well knew that nine men from Fostoria have their names on the wall. "When those motorcycles pulled in this time ... I've seen those processions before," Cobert said. "But when that trailer came in that says, 'Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall' and went past and I was standing there at full salute, I realized that while I was looking at Fountain Cemetery and the traveling wall at the same time, 50 years ago the war in Vietnam ended and now we're bringing those guys home. That was one of the most emotional times of my life. It truly was." Colbert, who has been active in local veterans organizations, said he was pleased to see people visit the wall and the Eyes of Freedom memorial, which includes a sculpture titled "Silent Battle," which depicts a soldier in despair as he holds the dog tag of his deceased friend. Colbert noted that statistics show that 22 war veterans commit suicide each day. "It's important to me that while we're visiting this wall, and with the death and suicide rate as high as it is, I want everybody to leave here having the 'Silent Battle' etched in their brain. That's what they need to study. Why do these veterans commit suicide? And we'll do everything in our power to stop it. That is a big project. It's hard to even put into words."