UWM journalists speak about search for images of Wisconsin’s Vietnam fallen

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund was archiving portraits of fallen soldiers to go with the 58,318 names on the memorial in Washington D.C., and 64 of the Wisconsin soldiers remained faceless. In spring 2015, a UWM Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies class worked to track down some of the remaining images.

Jessica McBride, the UWM senior lecturer who led the class, and alumnus Dylan Deprey will speak about the hunt for the last pictures on Thursday, Feb. 1, from noon to 1 p.m. at the Milwaukee County War Memorial Center.

“Wisconsin Remembers: A Face for Every Name”

They’ll be joined by Andrew Johnson, the community newspaper publisher who spearheaded the statewide search. His son David was killed in Afghanistan in January 2012. The response from the veteran community inspired him to enlist the help of Wisconsin newspapers and journalists to find the remaining missing photos.

The UWM class sifted through cemetery records and other documents to find surviving relatives of the missing 64, many of whom were Milwaukee County natives. They published some of the soldiers’ stories on Media Milwaukee, a news site produced by the Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies Department.

All 64 images have been on display have been on display since early January at the Milwaukee County War Memorial in the “Wisconsin Remembers: A Face for Every Name” exhibit, which runs through Feb. 2. The images are also available on the online Wall of Faces.

The event and parking are free. Contact 414-273-5533 or education@warmemorialcenter.org for more information.

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