Group seeking images of missing, KIA soldiers

Published 12:16 am Wednesday, November 11, 2015

ATLANTA — Bruce Crocklin Alfred is dressed smartly in his Marine uniform as he smiles proudly at the camera.

This handsome Moultrie resident, who was 18 when he was killed in Vietnam, is among more than 43,300 fallen soldiers whose photos are now included in the Wall of Faces, a nationwide project of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

But it wasn’t that long ago that a box next to Alfred’s name was filled with the image of a generic soldier.

Davis Tyler, who lives in Colquitt County, wasn’t having that. An exhaustive search led him to Alfred’s sister in St. Petersburg, Fla. She snapped a photo of a picture she had, the flash visible on his shoulder, and she sent it to Tyler.

Now the photo is part of the collection being built by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. The group, which built the iconic wall near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., has put out a call for photos of more than 15,000 soldiers also killed in the war, so that it will have as complete a gallery as possible for an education center planned near the memorial.

The group plans to display the photos on a “Wall of Faces” in the center, which it hopes to open by Veterans Day 2020.

To date, the fund has a complete set of photos of soldiers killed or missing for only six states, according to Heidi Zimmerman, communications director.

The plea for help was heard in Georgia, where state Sen. Judson Hill, R-Marietta, has tasked colleagues with generating interest for the project back in their districts.

Of the 1,584 Georgia soldiers who died during the Vietnam War, 736 of them “remain faceless,” he said at a press conference earlier this month.

“There’s a picture somewhere, and we’re here to find it,” he said.

That might be an “impossible chore” in areas like Atlanta, said Sen. Ellis Black, R-Valdosta. But he suspects it won’t be so hard in the less transient rural communities.

“There are pictures probably sitting on the mantel of some people’s homes,” he said.

But finding that image is sometimes tough.

Tyler hunted photos for a book he recently published, “A Circle of Soldiers,” focused on 32 men from Colquitt County who were killed in Vietnam.

When knocking on the doors of relatives or calling someone on the phone, he said he’s been met with surprise by those grateful to know that someone else cares about a loved one who died many years ago in an unpopular war.

“There’s been a lot of tears,” he said.

The most elusive image for Tyler proved to be that of Allen Jackson, who was 20 when he was killed.

Unable to find photos of Jackson during his time of service, Tyler looked for childhood photos. He eventually got his hands on an old yearbook, but when he found Jackson, he discovered that someone had scribbled “dead” over his photo.

Tyler later found another, unsullied copy of the yearbook.

It’s that photo that will someday appear on the wall for visitors who file through the new center in Washington.

For information on the Wall of Faces project and how to submit a photo, visit  www.vvmf.org.

Jill Nolin covers the Statehouse for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach her at jnolin@cnhi.com.

The project Wall of Faces aims to publish the photo of every U.S. military member who was killed in the Vietnam War. Photos of the following are sought for soldiers from Dalton who lost their lives during the war.

• 1st Lt. Lawrence Buford Flowers, Army, Dalton, June 16, 1944-Oct. 1, 1967

• Spc. 4 Kenneth Wayne Ogles, Army, Dalton, June 18, 1947-Feb. 16, 1967

• Pfc. Jerry Lynn Poe, Army, Dalton, Sept. 17, 1947-Sept. 15, 1968

For information on the Wall of Faces project and how to submit a photo, visit www.vvmf.org.