This has been the most rewarding work I have ever been part of.”

Historian Herb Reckinger

For more information and to submit photos, visit www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces

When Historian Herb Reckinger talks of the many pictures he has found of Vietnam veterans for The Wall of Faces, a database of pictures of the 58,281 names engraved on the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Washington D. C., he speaks of details of the lives those pictures provide a glimpse into.
Unprompted, Reckinger recalled the two Hastings residents that were killed during the war: Lawrence Harry Swanson and Duane John Foss. He knew that Swanson lived in town, while Foss lived out in the country. He knew in which cemeteries they were buried and where in those cemeteries their headstones lie.
“I don’t try to remember and I don’t try to forget,” said Reckinger.
Since 2014, Reckinger has found countless photos of Vietnam veterans, finding more than 250 of the final 300 pictures of Minnesota veterans who lost their lives during the war from the memorial.
Thanks to the work of many, including Reckinger, Minnesota became the sixth state to place at least one photo of each fallen soldier from that state in 2015.
“This has been the most rewarding work I have ever been part of,” said Reckinger.
That work, however, started by happenstance.
In 2014, Reckinger first stumbled across the request from a St. Cloud veteran who sought pictures of three veterans: Raymond Huot, Gary Wayne Peterson, and Mark Steeley.
The request was sent to city halls across the state, leaving a St. Paul Park administrator to hand it off to Reckinger who was there taking a picture of a display case at the time.
“She didn’t know what to do with it then,” said Reckinger.
Reckinger had previously worked on a family history, spending six years uncovering more than 500 ancestors, so biographical research was not new to him.
“I knew right away this had to be done,” said Reckinger about the search for photos.
Reckinger found the pictures of the three veterans in only a few weeks.
Thanks to that work, and photos submitted by many others, viewers can see photos of Huot before the Golden Gate Bridge and smiling out from beneath a sideways cap.
Viewers can see a serious photo of Peterson in thick-rimmed glasses and of Steeley with his senior track team and later sporting a mustache and beret.
From that initial request, Reckinger moved on to finding photos of veterans from his hometown of South St. Paul. While three were listed without photos, Reckinger quickly found eight more.
Over the course of the next year, he would work clockwise throughout the state seeking hundreds of photos from libraires, yearbooks, and historical societies in order to place a picture with each name of a fallen soldier.
The search always started with the family: “Family members are the most important.”
Initially, many were wary when Reckinger first contacted them, unsure why a stranger was asking about a loved one decades after their death.
Nieces and nephews in particular were often useful in sourcing pictures of their uncle.
“Why uncle? Because many didn’t live long enough to have their own children,” said Reckinger.
The average age of service members who died during the Vietnam War was 22.
If the family wasn’t able to provide a picture, Reckinger then moved to yearbooks.
Increasingly many are online from sites like E-yearbook and Classmates.com but often the process was simply to call or go to high schools or even universities for photos.
Local historical societies and school libraries were another source for research, with Reckinger often being forced to find relatives and maiden names in order to work backwards to the veteran.
Finally, the archives of the Minnesota Historical Society were often used.
“I’d go to the historical society for three or four hours until my eyes hurt,” said Reckinger.
After finding pictures for all the Minnesota names, Reckinger expanded his search to pictures of veterans from other states, and to seeking additional photos for those with blurry or poor-quality pictures.
“Some are copies of copies of copies of old pictures from newspapers,” said Reckinger.
In 2022, The Wall of Faces was completed, with at least a single photo for each service member.
It took 33 months to review each of the more than 58,000 names for additional photos, and that’s exactly what Reckinger did and continues to do.
Within The Wall of Faces nearly 3,500 names are listed under “needs better photo.” The reason can be from low quality photos, overexposure, or simply that a hat covers the service member’s face.
Reckinger encourages those to look through the list to see if they have photos to add. In his research, a throughline has been just how close the effects of the Vietnam War were and continue to be to friends and relatives.
For more information and to submit photos, visit www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces