Staff photo / Brandon Cantwell Glenn Lay of Struthers, an Air Force veteran, looks for a name on The Wall That Heals during its opening day on Packard Music Hall’s south lawn Thursday. The wall is a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Warren is the only Ohio city hosting The Wall this year and it is being hosted by The Warren Heritage Center in partnership with Dr. John and Denise York.

WARREN — The bright May sky heavily contrasted with the atmosphere on the south lawn of Packard Music Hall as people from Trumbull County and surrounding areas gathered to recognize those who gave it all 50 years ago.

The Wall That Heals, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which last visited the area in August 2018, kicked off its opening day with a Welcome Home ceremony Thursday evening. Hosted by the Warren Heritage Center in partnership with Dr. John and Denise York, Warren is the only city in Ohio hosting the wall this year.

The Wall That Heals contains the names of 58,281 military personnel who were killed in action during the Vietnam War or listed as missing. Of those killed in action, 103 were from Mahoning County and 61 were from Trumbull County.

The ones from Trumbull County had stakes with their profiles in front of their respective wall spots.

Herm Breuer, a co-chairman who was around when the wall was first brought to the area, said he had the pleasure of carrying panel W50 — which bears the name of his dad’s cousin, Ray Hall, from Nazareth, Pa. — during the wall’s setup on Tuesday. Breuer is the former director of the Trumbull County Veterans Service Commission.

“When Ray’s remains returned home to the U.S., there was no presidential welcome at Dover Air Force Base; there was no motorcade, or police escort or fire trucks or flag-lined streets in Nazareth,” Breuer said. “And this is what this wall is about.”

Breuer pointed to the wall’s ability to bring people together, recalling when he was at a conference in Omaha, Nebraska, and the State Director of the Veterans of Tennessee, Courtney Rogers, was recognized.

“Her father, Ralph Dryden Jr., was a Marine Corps officer and had flown helicopters all over the world and flew Marine Corps 1 for Lyndon Johnson,” Breuer said. “And he was shot down and killed on my birthday, July 28, 1968; my head perked up when I heard that, so I went to my phone and pulled up the picture of me at panel W50, pointing to the name of Ray Hall, and immediately above his name was Ralph Dryden Jr.”

Breuer said his father, Fred, died Monday morning, Memorial Day, which brought the story “full circle.”

“It’s not just the 58,000 that we lost, it’s the families that were forever changed, and it’s the hundreds of service members that served during that time that we owe the welcome home that never received it,” he added.

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin said the active service members, military families and Gold Star families present spoke volumes about the spirit of remembrance and gratitude that binds the community together.

“For many, this wall offers a chance of reflection — for healing, and a deeply personal encounter,” Franklin said. “For others, it’s an opportunity to educate younger generations about the profound costs and the importance, the extreme importance, of honoring those who serve. As mayor, I can’t express how incredibly proud I am that the city of Warren, Ohio, can host this powerful exhibit.”

One person familiar with that chance for reflection and healing was Barb Matheson of Cortland, who has ridden to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and was part of the wall’s escort from Austintown on Tuesday.

“I recognize some of the last names on this wall and it makes me wonder, ‘Roach.’ I have a cousin by the last name of Roach; I went to school with some kids with these last names,” Matheson said. “I know a Beck, and it just makes me reflect — were these relatives of some of these people?”

She noted some of the Asian names among the ones on the wall and deemed it a reminder of the country’s “melting pot” nickname.

“Nowadays, people don’t realize the extent of what it takes out of you, the cost of freedom, and what it does to your own spirit,” Matheson said.

Matheson, a former psychiatric nurse, recalled seeing people a decade older than her five years after they returned from the war.

“A lot of them just didn’t deal with them (their memories). I think the biggest thing is, they really didn’t say too much because this war was not won by the United States,” she said. “My uncle worked at Kent State when they had the shooting; me, my brother and my mother, we went up there and saw the bullet holes and stuff.”