ATTICA, Ohio — It's been 49 years since the last American soldiers left Vietnam.
Many of the soldiers who fought in the war never got to go home, but their names will never be forgotten because those who survived refuse to forget.
The Vietnam War touched everyone in the country one way or another in the 1960s and 70s.
On Saturday, the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall came to the tiny village of Attica in Seneca County.
"After being in the infantry in Vietnam, we have comrades that are on this wall. It is really nice to be able to get this wall here at Attica to a small community that we have here," said James Schumacher, U.S. Army Vietnam, 1968-1969 and Purple Heart recipient.
Although there is a permanent memorial in Washington, D.C. that bears the name of those who died or are missing, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall has been making its way around the country for decades. It allows people who have never had a chance to travel to the nation's capital a chance to honor their comrades and loved ones.
“It’s an honor for me to be able to take this around the country for folks to see and a lot of people will never make it to Washington to see what I call the big wall and it will give them the first step in the healing process because this something they have been carrying around for 50 years whether it’s a family member or comrade or whoever comes out,” said Doc Russo, Wall Manager Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall.
It might have been 49 years since the war ended, but for the Vietnam veterans living in the little community of Attica touching the wall was a chance to reconnect with their past.
"It's just an honor to come back and remember our fallen and remember I have a cousin on this wall and a classmate and other friends from other surrounding areas. It's just a way to remember that we never forget our fallen and the sacrifice that was made for what we have today," said Alt.
MORE FROM WTOL 11:
