July 29, 1967

Seventy columns run east, another seventy run west. Silence.

Etched into the black polished surface, the columns begin with a single line. John H. Anderson is the first name. The columns end with with a single line. Jessie C. Alba. Silence.

Bob Kohler was aboard with USS Forrestal July 29, 1967. I was on school’s summer vacation. I was going to be in the eighth grade.

Bob Kohler knew 134 names on the Wall. I knew none. Silence.

How is it that I grew up during the Vietnam War and served in the US Army during the Vietnam Era and I don’t know anyone on the Wall?

The Moving Wall came to Coinjock, NC. Bob Kohler belongs to the VFW in Coinjock. We met on the grass in front of the Wall where he told me about the USS Forrestal.

A fire resulting from a punctured fuel tank killed 134 U.S. crewmen aboard the USS Forrestal in the Gulf of Tonkin, in the worst naval accident since World War II. John McCain, a pilot, was getting ready to launch when flames surrounded his aircraft. He narrowly escaped. Hell. Fire onboard a ship. No where to go.