Everyone Has a Story

Known simply as The Wall, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial lists the names of over 58,000 soldiers who died in Southeast Asia during one of this country's deadliest military conflicts. And behind each of these names is a story waiting to be told...a story of patriotism, service to country, and sacrifice to the principles of democracy. There's the story of the Edison 64 from Edison High School in Philadelphia, the dozen soldiers from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Chicago, and the brotherhood of the Morenci 9 and the Midvale three. Also appearing among the wall's 70 black granite panels are the names of over 3,000 soldiers from Ohio, including eleven young men from one of Ohio's least populated counties, Monroe County. Strikingly, over half of those soldiers from the county that died were from the small village of Beallsville...bestowing upon the village of less than 400 the unwanted distinction of having the highest per-capita casualty rate of any U.S. community during the conflict. While other works may have been written about these eleven young men, those works only skimmed the surface of their lives. This work delves into the similarities of their young lives and the differences that brought about their untimely deaths. Along with their families, these young men gave so much, and their stories need...no, they demand...to be told. Everyone Has a Story, and this is theirs.