Group recalls fallen troops

University staff read the names of YSU-related soldiers who died in service.
By JoANNE VIVIANO
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- It's difficult for Michael Shepherd to talk about Francis L. Ware.
He starts his story recalling the 1996 dedication of Veterans' Plaza at Youngstown State University. The traveling Vietnam wall made a visit to YSU for the event and Shepherd, a YSU staffer, coordinated round-the-clock security for the display.
During the hectic time, he received a telephone call. The man on the line wanted to volunteer.
It's at this point in the story when Shepherd gets choked up and looks away, taking a breath before continuing.
Shepherd cautioned the would-be volunteer: "I told him, 'It can be very emotionally trying because you're going to have people coming here grieving over their friends and relatives.'"
"'My son is on Panel 13 West, Line 82,'" the man answered.
That son was Francis L. Ware. A YSU Reserve Officer Training Corps student, Ware died March 6, 1970, in the Vietnam War. He was 20.
Observance
Shepherd recalled the story Thursday after a rain-misted Veterans Day observance at the plaza. Each year since 1996, the YSU Veterans Organization has gathered to read the names of students, alumni, faculty and staff killed in active military service.
Shepherd, a Marine Corps veteran, read 55 names with fellow veterans Paul Lambert, Terri O'Connor-Brown and Jim Olive, all YSU employees.
The event was marked by a gun salute by the Tri-State Detachment Marine Corps League, presentation of the colors by YSU ROTC students and the playing of taps by students from YSU's Dana School of Music.
Shepherd said the event is always difficult, declining to comment on the state of the conflict in Iraq.
"You can see those of us reading it; it affects us all the same way every year," he said. "I just want the kids to be remembered."
O'Connor-Brown, an Army veteran, said she never had a close relative die in the military, but will never forget the two young men from her hometown -- Paul Sgambati and Joseph Siciliano -- who went to Vietnam and did not return.
"It always shook me and always shakes me, not just around Veterans Day, but I always think about them," she said. "When I get here, it's a somber moment and, when I have my own moments, it's very somber, very sad. I'm always carrying them in my heart."
viviano@vindy.com