Pensacola Veterans Memorial taking a week to honor Vietnam fallen, but they need your help

This Veterans Day, the Veterans Memorial Park of Pensacola will mark Wall South's 30th anniversary by spending one week reading the names of all who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.

The Reading of the Names ceremony, planned by the park's foundation board and WSRE PBS members, will take place Nov. 5 through 11, beginning at 9 a.m. and ending at 6 p.m. each day. The reading will require more than 1,200 volunteers.

"Everybody who sits on this board does it as a labor of love," said retired Marine Corps Maj. Paul Entrekin, president of the Veterans Memorial Park of Pensacola foundation board. "It's a very, very special group that each brings a special skill set and different gifts to the table."

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The foundation board asks for volunteers to help read the 58,318 names engraved on Wall South throughout the week, with each volunteer getting one sheet of names to read that should take roughly two minutes, according to a WSRE press release.

Park foundation board member and retired U.S. Navy Capt. Butch Hansen said Veterans Day is a special time to celebrate those who have served this country.

"Veterans Day is different. It's more of a celebration of all that have served," Hansen said. "From my perspective, a celebration like this, a ceremony like this, is about calling attention to that park and what that park means."

The weeklong reading of the names will conclude on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, during the park's Veterans Day ceremony. During the ceremony, the final list of names, reflecting the final casualties of the Vietnam War, will be read at 11 a.m.

Anyone who wishes to participate and volunteer to read a list of names should visit wsre.org to sign up.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for local citizens to help commemorate 30 years of the park's anchor memorial, which really established Veterans Memorial Park," Entrekin said. "This Reading of the Names also serves as a special way for our community to express why we honor our military on Veterans Day and appreciate their sacrifice for our freedom every day.”

Benjamin Johnson can be reached at bjohnson@pnj.com or 850-435-8578

This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Pensacola Veterans Memorial Park to hold Wall South Veterans Day event