Staff Report
Washington, D.C. — More than 500 Vietnam veterans, including 13 from Indiana, will be inducted into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s In Memory Program in 2019. The program honors Vietnam veterans whose lives were cut short as a result of their service after they returned home from Vietnam.
Two Hancock County veterans have been honored by the program. One of the veterans being honored at a ceremony today has relatives in Hancock County.
The ceremony will be held on the East Knoll of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., where each 2019 honoree’s name will be read aloud. The ceremony memorializes the struggles many Vietnam veterans endured after returning home from the war.
The plaque that honors these veterans was dedicated as a part of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial site in 2004. It reads: “In Memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. We honor and remember their sacrifice.”
Among those being honored is Terry Lee Simmons of Shelbyville, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran who died in 2012 at age 63. He has family in Hancock County.
2019 In Memory Inductees from Indiana are Robert Allen Beasley, Kokomo; Ronald Wayne Camp, Frankfort; Donald Lewis Connin, New Haven; Pat Gibbs, Rockport; Walter Stephen Heller, Hamilton; Nicky Lee Klinefelter Sr., Kewanna; Alton Dean Morris, Salem; Michael John Noland, Indianapolis; Todd Ripley Orman, Terre Haute; Stephen Howard Ridinger, Indianapolis; Bruce Steven Schache, Gaston; and Robert E. Smith, Indianapolis.
Two veterans from Hancock County are enshrined on the honor roll: Charles Murnan III of Greenfield, who died in 2006; and Robert Cameron of Greenfield, who died in 2013.
Once these veterans are inducted, they will each have a personal remembrance page online in the In Memory Honor Roll at www.vvmf.org/honor-roll. Their photos will also be displayed around the country when VVMF’s mobile exhibit, The Wall That Heals, is on display in an honoree’s home state.
The Wall That Heals will be in Greenfield July 11-14 on the grounds of Stillinger Family Funeral Home, 1780 W. Main St.
The In Memory program was created in 1993 and has since honored more than 4,000 veterans.
