One Clarke County resident, Helen Stevens, recently traveled to Washington D.C. to attend a great memorial service where her late husband, Mack Stevens was honored.
“This is a ceremony that takes place annually. It started in 1993 when they decided to do Agent Orange Awareness and PTSD Awareness,” stated Helen Stevens. “In D.C., they have the Vietnam War Memorial where they list all the names of those who died during the war. Then, they have the three U.S. soldier monument that is set up for Vietnam, and next to it on the ground is another memorial. It’s in memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service to honor and remember their sacrifice. That is the celebration I went to.”
She discovered the memorial by accident in 2019 and then researched and followed the proper steps to submit Mack’s name to it for the 2020 year. Her research paid off, and she went through an easy and organized process to have Mack honored.
“I went to the website for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. It has an application that you request, and they mail you a copy of the application. You then send that along with a copy of the death certificate, a copy of the DD-214 that tells when the person went into service and was discharged, and two pictures. I sent them one picture of Mack as a soldier and one picture as an adult before he died. I sent those out, and in a couple of weeks, they sent me information back about when the ceremony was going to be and what it was going to be about,” explained Helen. “Since the pandemic started in 2020, they couldn’t do the ceremony in October of 2020. They sent me an email and said they were going to honor the 2020 veterans on October 15, 2021, and the 2021 veterans on the 16. They honored 591 veterans just for 2020. There’s no special requirement or metal they have to have to be included. It’s just for anyone who died as a result of Agent Orange or PTSD after serving in Vietnam.”
When she arrived for ceremony in October, she was pleased to see how organized the event was. Other than the cost of her hotel, she didn’t have to pay for any of the expenses for the ceremony, and they made sure that every veteran who successfully applied was properly honored for their service.
“All I had to pay for was my hotel when I went to D.C. Getting the plaque, going to the ceremony, and having my picture taken with the plaque and everything were all free. They had a weekend planned for the families of the veterans. You send them the number of people that will be present with you. They have a reception the night before the ceremony, and you get to meet other veterans’ families,” described Helen. “The morning of the reception, they have buses at the hotel to take you to downtown D.C. to the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial. There, they have a tent set up and give you a packet if you’re a representative of a family. The packet had a plaque that they give all the veterans and a pin that said In Memory of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. They had a ceremony where someone who was there to represent a veteran would go on stage and say the veteran’s name and when they served, and a representative from the organization would say the name of any veteran that didn’t have family there to represent so that all of the veterans would be honored for that year.”
While it costs nothing to apply to have a veteran included in the memorial, people are able to make a donation to the fund, which goes towards maintaining the Wall that Heals.
“What the fund does is goes towards the Wall that Heals, which is a traveling display that goes all around the country and is a Vietnam War Memorial,” declared Helen. “When it comes to the state of Mississippi, any Mississippi veteran who died after the Vietnam War because of Agent Orange or PTSD has their name and picture included on the Wall that Heals. Now it will have Mack’s name on it when it comes through Mississippi.”
It is wonderful that Mack Stevens has been honored through the great ceremony and will continued to be honored through the Wall that Heals each time it comes through Mississippi. Any other spouses of veterans who have passed from complications involving Agent Orange or PTSD from the Vietnam War are able to apply for the memorial as well.
