Visitors reflect on names, lives at traveling memorial

Lisle resident Pam Kimbro walked along the American Veterans Traveling Tribute wall Thursday evening and paused every now and then to trace a name with her fingertips.

"(I was thinking about how) I had two brothers in Vietnam and how glad I am that their names aren't there," she said, her voice catching with tears. "I'm so glad that I don't have to look for them."

Kimbro and about 150 others gathered in downtown Lisle Thursday for the opening ceremonies of the American Veterans Traveling Tribute -- a charcoal-colored wall inscribed with more than 58,000 names of men and women killed since Vietnam.

The 8-by-370-foot-long memorial sits at the corner of Main Street and Burlington Avenue and is open 24 hours a day through Sunday.

The ceremony included a prayer service by four local clergy members. The Lisle High School and Lisle Community bands performed the national anthem and "God Bless America."

State Rep. Jim Meyer, a Naperville Republican, read three poems including one about his first time visiting the Vietnam Wall in Washington, D.C.

"The impact of the dark stone is astounding," Meyer read.

In another excerpt he said, "How many short days ago did these men breathe, laugh, hope?"

Afterward, people paid their respects and left memorials at the base of the wall.

Beth Freeman took a picture with her cell phone of three gold dog tags -- boys who graduated from boot camp with her cousin and who died in Iraq in an explosion witnessed by her cousin.

She wiped the rain drops from the glass case and tear drops from her face.

"It makes you thankful. It makes you realize how much you take for granted on a daily basis," she said. "This is the least anybody could do."

One Lisle resident left laminated pictures of her uncle.

Other visitors shaded a name onto a piece of white paper with a pencil.

"It may sound silly, but it seems you can almost hear the names talking to you as you walk by," Mayor Joseph Broda said. "It's very moving and I'm just proud to have it here."

Before she left, Kimbro stopped to view some dog tags dedicated by loved ones.

"It makes you think, did he walk his girls down the aisle? Did he see his grandbabies?" she said. "You just wonder what would have been of their lives."