PHOTO SLIDESHOW: Residents remember the fallen

Some came to honor those they’ve never met. Others came to remember those they lost.

Downers Grove recently welcomed the Moving Vietnam Wall, a mobile tribute to those who lost their lives in the conflict.

Col. Richard Mikulecky, commander of the DuPage County American Legion, served during the Vietnam War and spoke at the opening ceremonies of the Moving Vietnam Wall’s first stop in Downers Grove Friday, Oct 2.

Mikulecky told attendees about his experience in the war, serving next to the fallen and losing his best friend.

“They’re brave guys,” Mikulecky said. “They’re on the wall.”

Mikulecky said his childhood friend, Dennis Pazdan, died in a plane crash during the war, and though Mikulecky was the target of snipers, he is alive.

Both veterans and residents of the Downers Grove community joined to remember those killed in Vietnam.

The Moving Vietnam Wall made its stop at the Alexander Bradley Burns American Legion Post 80, where it rested from Thursday to Monday, Oct. 1 to 5.

Of the more than 58,000 names, 14 belong to Downers Grove residents.

Former Downers Grove resident Tony Adduci lost his twin brother, John Joseph, when he was killed in the war. John Adduci was drafted into the Army after he dropped out of college.

“I told him, ‘You’re going to get drafted,’ and he did,” Adduci said.

On Nov. 24, 1969, about six weeks before Joseph was due home, he was killed. Adduci said he will never forget the night he found out about his death.

“That was a horrible night,” he said.

It was a Thursday night, at about 9 p.m., and he heard pounding and banging on the door — it was his mother. Army representatives had caught her as she was walking back to the house from her job at Jewell-Osco.

Adduci said they were surprised and shocked.

“When he would write my mom he would say he was in a safe place, guarding a bridge,” Adduci said.

By the time the community gathered for the wall’s opening ceremonies Friday, Carlene Oshinski of Downers Grove had already visited it three times — she lives across the street.

Oshinski’s son, Ed, went to high school with Ivan Clifford Broeffle, a Downers Grove resident whose name is etched into the wall. Oshinski took an imprint of it to send to her son in Texas.

Oshinski said she did not know Broeffle, but regardless went to pay her respect to those who had given their lives.

“It made it more personal to have a name to zero in on,” Oshinski said.

While some residents attended to pay respect, veterans also attended to remember their fellow soldiers and their service.

Mike Madsen, a member of Post 80, served in the Navy repairing ships during the Vietnam war.

“I have friends whose names are on the wall,” Madsen said. “You just never forget. I appreciate I’m here living the life they couldn’t live.”