posted 02-01-2003 08:40 PM         

Published Feb. 2, 2003
Minneapolis Star and Tribune

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Christopher Wilkinson held his wife's hand as he died of lung cancer in a Minnesota hospital room, 27 years and 8,000 miles away from the war in Vietnam.

Carl Auel flipped his car in a ditch along a Virginia backroad and died in a coma two weeks later, ending years of nightmares about Vietnam that pushed the retired Navy chaplain to drink.

Frank Nichols hanged himself in 1977, eight years after returning to Kentucky with a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.

Despite the years and distance, each man's family considers him a casualty of war. But none of their names appear on the black granite wall in Washington honoring the war's official dead. For these others, there is a little-known remembrance -- a roll of names kept inside the park rangers' kiosk near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

Few visitors see the list. There's no sign; some rangers don't even know it's there. But those who ask the right person are handed a slim gray binder with 801 names and snapshots of shirtless young soldiers, middle-aged men in
business suits, veterans posed somberly before the wall.

Relatives will read those names on April 21, the 10th anniversary of what began as a grass-roots movement to publicly recognize deaths that might otherwise go overlooked.

"People see the wall and think that's all the casualties, but it's not. That war really isn't over," said Linda Wilkinson of Inver Grove Heights. She blames exposure to defoliants for her husband's death in 1998 at age 50. Wilkinson's decision to enlist in the Army at age 19 caused a lifetime estrangement from his brother Alex, a war protester. They reconciled two days before his death.

The American Battle Monuments Commission is finishing plans for a granite marker to be installed near the wall as early as this year honoring, without naming, those "who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service."

Meanwhile, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, keeper of the wall and the list, is seeking more names from veterans' families for inclusion on the "In Memory" list.

Death certificates and military records must be submitted by Feb. 28 to qualify for this year's ceremony, said Holly Rotondi, who reviews the applications.

It's impossible to say to what degree wartime service should be blamed in deaths years later. If a family makes a reasonable case, the name is accepted, Rotondi said.

Fifty-four names were added last year, the first time the memorial fund publicized the search, Rotondi said. She hopes for more nominations as word spreads; no one knows how many thousands might be eligible.

Many on the list died from cancers the government presumes are related to Agent Orange, which was used to clear jungle growth that provided cover for the enemy. Others were victims of post-traumatic stress disorder, through suicide, drug abuse or alcoholism.