BILLINGS— Dozens of volunteers have assembled the Vietnam Veterans Memorial replica at the Will James Middle School football field Billings.
The process took four hours Wednesday morning. Nonprofit Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund brought the replica to Billings, which lists approximately 58,000 names of those who died in the Vietnam War on its walls.
Watch the report below:
Related: Vietnam War Memorial replica comes to Billings, offering one family a full-circle moment
The Billings Senior High School Football team was among the many volunteers helping to assemble it.
“Just learning the history, it's kind of nice just to know,” said 15-year-old football player Cooper Hays.
“There are some vets out here, and it's been cool to meet them and talk to them, and how they're visiting some of these families on the wall, and it's just cool to know that we're helping out with that,” said Emmett Manning, Hays’ teammate.
Several veterans visited the wall to look for names Wednesday afternoon.
U.S. Marine Corps Veteran Doug Wood, who served during the Vietnam War era, was looking for the name of an old friend, Raymond Piseno Jr.
“I knew him in grade school, and he was just a good kid. And now he's on the wall,” said Wood. “It's a great tribute to them. They'll never be forgotten.”
Yellowstone County Commissioner Mike Waters, a U. S. Air Force veteran, was looking for the name of a man from his hometown.
“There's somebody in my hometown of Richey that I grew up in that gave his life,” said Waters. “His name is Leslie Sampson.”
For many viewers, seeing the names is a grounding experience.
“It tugs at your heart, because you know these people,” said Wood.
“The time that I spent in the Air Force after the Vietnam War, I stood on the shoulders of giants who came before me,” said Waters. “This is always a stark reminder of the sacrifice so many made for us all to be free and as we go into celebrating the 250th year of our country.”
