For a complete list of New Mexico military personnel who died in Vietnam, whose photos and a short biography are needed, click here.

For a flier about the Call for Photos project, click here.

For the New Mexico Veterans Web site, click here.

For the New Mexico Department of Veterans' Services Web site, click here.

For the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Web site, click here.

LAS CRUCES - Wednesday, 42 years to the day after he received his draft notice, Melvin Martinez, of Santa Fe, sat in the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services Office and looked at some of the photos of comrades who died during the Vietnam War.

Martinez's induction notice sent him to Vietnam, and he is now president of the Vietnam Veterans Association chapter in Santa Fe.

"These photos are so important," Martinez said. "We share them with each other and they touch our hearts. At night, I go home and bawl my heart out because some

of them hit so close to home, some of them bring back very, very vivid memories."

Martinez and his veterans organization have taken the lead to collect photos of military personnel who were killed in action in Vietnam. They are looking for photos and short biographies that will be put on display in a proposed national museum to commemorate the Vietnam War, fought from Sept. 26, 1959 until April 30, 1975 in North and South Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

The museum will be built next to the Vietnam War Memorial, in Washington, D.C. where the names of 58,261 Americans who died in Vietnam are listed.

"It's important to get the faces to go with the names on the wall," Martinez said. "We're struggling to collect photographs and short biographies but we're making progress."

Las Cruces resident Dolores Archuleta, a strong supporter of veterans and military issues, is coordinating efforts to get photos and biographies of 11 Las Crucens who were killed in Vietnam, and residents who lived in Mesilla Park, Fairacres, Organ and White Sands.

"I've been working at it now for about three weeks," Archuleta said. "This is a slow process and we can use any help we can get. If people know how we can get in touch with family members or friends of these fallen heroes, or are willing to share their photos and memories, that would be a huge, huge help. We want to be very careful, very cautious, and we want to be very sensitive because we don't want to dredge up any painful memories there might be about these brave men."

Ray Seva, spokesman for the New Mexico Department of Veterans' Services, said New Mexico has taken the lead in collecting information of state residents who died in Vietnam.

"The goal is to put a face to these names," Seva said. "It's important for future generations to see those faces and names, and know a little something about the person who made the ultimate sacrifice for us."

Gov. Bill Richardson has said he wants the state to take the lead in the project.

"We have a rich military heritage and a strong sense of service to our country," Richardson said. "So, I ask that New Mexicans embrace this latest call for action with the same enthusiasm that we've always shown our veterans."

Department of Veterans' Services Cabinet Secretary John Garcia, a Vietnam veteran, added, "While the Memorial Wall will forever preserve the honor and sacrifice of our fallen heroes who served in Vietnam, the photo wall will put a face to the names so that we may see for ourselves who these brave warriors were. This not only honors these warriors, but also their families. They, too, paid the ultimate sacrifice when their husbands, fathers and sons and brothers answered the call to arms."

To send the photos and biographies, people can also go to the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Fund Web site at: www.buildthecenter.org/the-center/behind-every-name.html.

More events to recognize the first ever Vietnam Veterans Day in New Mexico are planned, with a parade in Albuquerque at 10 a.m. Saturday, and the long-awaited dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial Park, also in Albuquerque, at 2:30 p.m. Monday.

"There was a memorial introduced in the Legislature last year that recognized Vietnam Veterans Day, but the document only listed it for one year and not for perpetuity," said Floyd Vasquez, a spokesman for the New Mexico Veterans Public Affairs Network, a non-profit organization that focuses on issues specifically for state veterans. "We're hoping to get future legislation introduced that will forever establish Vietnam Veterans Day in New Mexico. But in the meantime, the feeling was why not go ahead and recognize it on March 29, like it was last year. We want to continue what was started."

Vasquez added an annual commemoration would be significant.

"It will be an opportunity for closure, something that can be cathartic to many long-suffering Vietnam veterans," he said.

More information on Vietnam Veterans Day is available by calling Vasquez at (505) 980-1028, or on the Internet at www.nmveterans.net.

Steve Ramirez can be reached at sramirez@lcsun-news.com; (575) 541-5452.

A face with a name

• Photos and short biographies are being sought and collected for the 58,261 Americans who died in the Vietnam War.

• The photos and biographies will be put on display in a museum that will be built next to the Vietnam Memorial wall, in Washington, D.C.

• In New Mexico, efforts have begun to collect photos and biographies of 400 military personnel who died in Vietnam.

• Of those, 12 are from Las Cruces, and one each from Fairacres, Mesilla Park, Organ and White Sands Missile Range.

• Anyone can scan and e-mail images to the National Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Fund Web site, at: www.buildthecenter.org/the-center/behind-every-name.html, or they can drop by any FedEx Office - formerly known as Kinkos - to have this done at no cost.

Information: Melvin Martinez, (505) 927-4101

Remembering our own

A list of Las Cruces, Mesilla Park, Fairacres, Organ and White Sands Missile Range residents who were killed in action in Vietnam:

• Cameron Joseph Devine, U.S. Marine Corps, 20-years old, from Fairacres

• John Ramage Barbour, U.S. Navy, 21, Las Cruces

• David Edward Bergfeldt, U.S. Army, 25, Las Cruces

• Kenneth Ray Brown, U.S. Air Force, 25, Las Cruces

• Walter Clifford Bunyea Jr., U.S. Army, 20, Las Cruces

• Billy Joe Demarco, U.S. Army, 23, Las Cruces

• Joe Mac Kemp, U.S. Marine Corps, 22, Las Cruces

• Gabriel Hernandez Madrid, U.S. Army, 23, Las Cruces

• David Reay Malins, U.S. Marine Corps, 20, Las Cruces

• Andres Moreno Jr., U.S. Army, 19, Las Cruces

• Russell Lowell Platt, U.S. Air Force, 26, Las Cruces

• Juan Manuel Alba Zamora, U.S. Marine Corps, 20, Las Cruces

• Kent Alan Leonard, U.S. Marine Corps, 18, Mesilla Park

• Albert Marion Walter, U.S. Army, 39, Organ

• Gregory C. Conant, U.S. Army, 19, White Sands Missile Range

Do you have photos of them, know how to reach family members, or can you provide a short biography of any of these men? That information can be submitted by e-mail to Dolores Archuleta, at: darchuleta611412@aol.com, or by calling Archuleta at (575) 642-0140.