Our Community and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Dedicated on November 11, 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. is an arresting and somber site that every American should visit at least once. The polished black granite walls reflect the faces of the visitors, while etched within are the names of 58,318 men and women who died in combat or are listed as missing in action (MIA).

Among those names are nine sons of Miami Springs and Virginia Gardens:

SPC4 Ronald O'Rourke, Army
PFC Leslie R. "Bob" Cornell, USMC
PFC James W. Brock III, USMC
SPC4 Bruce M. Benzing, Army
PFC Edward Michael Misiuta, USMC
PFC Fred Butler III, USMC
​PFC Bruce W. Carter, USMC
CPL Robert Emmet Cain, Army
SPC4 Elpidio J. Ravelo-Toribio, Army

The diagram below is intended to assist visitors in locating our men on the Wall.

Please send your reflections, feedback, and photos to me at [email protected].

Thanks!  Bill

Vietnam Memorial at night facing Washington Monument. Photo: National Park Service

Avery holding his Bruce W. Carter Challenge Coin beside Bruce's name on the Wall, 2013. Photo: Tallman Family Collection

Aerial View of the Memorial. Photo: Carol M. Highsmith's America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division