Chapter 451 Helps Locate Casualty Photos for Project

Baltimore, MD Chapter 451 ’s Operation Remember began during the observance of the tenth anniversary of the Maryland Vietnam Veterans Memorial dedication in May 1998. The goal was to demonstrate Everlasting Remembrance, the theme of the activities during that event. The project consisted of trying to recover a photograph of each of the 1, 046 Marylanders who died in the Vietnam War.

In September the mission was accomplished. The last missing photograph was of Pfc. Allen Smith, a medic with the 9th Infantry Division who lost his life on February 14, 1968. His photo was found by Dan Brodt in the National Archives.

Every photo was posted to the Chapter 451 Operation Remember Wall and traveling trailer. The photographs also were sent to the Wall of Faces project of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. That project, which started in September 2011, is an effort to locate photos of all the names on The Wall in Washington, D.C.

When Pfc. Smith’s photo was received, the state of Maryland became the seventeenth in the country to have all its casualties’ photos located. VVMF is searching for 10, 000 additional photos to complete the project.

The Maryland photos have been hung on the Operation Remember Wall inside Chapter 451 headquarters. The wall panels, along with fascinating stories of how the photos were located, can be viewed here .

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