Memorial Day 2016: Remembering Those Who Died in the Vietnam War

WAUWATOSA - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. honors the lives that were lost and represents a stark reminder of war’s human cost.

Of the more than 58,000 lives lost in the Vietnam War 1,161 were from Wisconsin. Today, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund announced that Wisconsin is one of the first states to collect photos of every single one.

Of those, 4 were from Wauwatosa

• DENNIS W KEEFE
• RONALD F KITZKE
• JEFFREY J KLAVES
• BRUCE C LEISING

You can learn branch of service, some deployment details, see a picture of them and leave a remembrance.

• See all of Wisconsin’s fallen Vietnam War vets and search for all of Wauwatosa’s fallen heroes here

For years, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund - the nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to build and maintain the memorial commonly known as The Wall - has been working to collect photos of every person whose name is on The Wall.

Of the 58,000 names on the memorial, the Fund has managed to collect around 46,000.

They call the project: The Wall of Faces.

They have been keeping track by state and Wisconsin came the 10th state to have photos collected for each of its veterans.

You can see all of Wisconsin’s veterans here.

The fund says that the states now closest to completion are Nevada (1), Utah (3), Alaska (4), Colorado (15), and Washington (16).

All the photos - while online now - will eventually be displayed in the Education Center at The Wall.

Memorial Day in Wauwatosa:

Monday, May 30, 10:30 a.m. at Longfellow Middle School, 7600 W. North Ave.

The one-hour ceremony will feature Dennis Konkel, a long-time Tosa resident, Milwaukee County Sheriff and member of Wisconsin Army National Guard since 1987. He holds the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the Army National Guard and is a veteran of two deployments in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Wauwatosa Community Band will perform.

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