Photos sought to memorialize Vietnam War veterans on Wall of Faces

In less than a month, photos for 19 of 27 servicemen killed during the Vietnam War have been found by Westmoreland County Veterans Affairs for a memorial project being developed called the Wall of Faces.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund officials put out a call to Veterans Affairs offices to help track down photos for its project. The Wall of Faces shows photos and information about the veterans on the group's website, with a goal of creating an interactive wall at a center it is raising money to build.

“I really enjoyed finding out this information,” said Megan Wilford, a clerk in the Westmoreland VA office.

Working with historical societies, cemeteries and funeral homes, Wilford and Westmoreland VA Director Matt Zamosky have been able to obtain photos for all but eight of the veterans on the Westmoreland list. They are hoping to cross more names off once schools are back in session.

“We're planning to call local districts and their libraries once they reopen,” Wilford said.

A sizable group of photos came from a 2000 program printed for the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans of Westmoreland County Memorial at Twin Lakes Park in Greensburg.

“We didn't have a digital copy of the program, so we had to photocopy them,” Zamosky said. “So some of them are not great, but it's a picture.”

Sometimes the connection has been made in unexpected places: a maintenance worker who cleans the VA office in the evenings turned out to be the great nephew of Army veteran Raymond Feld of Grapeville, who was killed in action in January 1969.

Karen Stahl Stoner of Bovard, daughter of Marine Corps veteran Donald Stahl, said she was happy to provide her father's photo.

“These veterans are definitely forgotten, and to be able to match a face with these names on the Wall, it means a lot,” Stoner said.

In some cases, the search has been trickier.

“One veteran, Frank Hiteshue, was an only child, and his obituary did not list any aunts or uncles,” Wilford said. “And he went to Penn Joint High School, which closed.”

She hopes contacting Penn-Trafford School District officials — where Penn Joint and Trafford high schools were merged — will help them to track down an old yearbook photo for Hiteshue.

In most cases, Wilford was able to track down gravesites for the listed veterans and would receive information from the cemetery or a local funeral home.

“Local historical societies have also been helpful,” she said.

A couple of the veterans on the list do not seem to have strong roots in Westmoreland, Zamosky said.

“The military typically lists vets by their ‘home of record,' ” Zamosky said. “So if they married someone from Westmoreland County and used that address, their home of record may be here, but they might not have deep ties to the county. They may have used their parents' address as the home of record, and the parents may have moved.”

Zamosky and Wilford are hopeful that they will be able to cross all the names off the list, and both like the idea behind the “Wall of Faces” project.

“This is an interesting way to interact, where you can leave a (website) comment saying, ‘Hey, I served with this guy,' ” Zamosky said.

Westmoreland County had the fourth-highest number of veterans' photos being sought in Pennsylvania. Allegheny County had the most at 81.

Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. He can be reached at 724-850-2862 or pvarine@tribweb.com.