Woman seeking 3 photos to match names on The Wall
Published 1:58 am Saturday, April 28, 2018
- Janna Hoehn is on a mission to match a face with every name on the Vietnam War memorial.
A woman dedicated to honoring Vietnam veterans is in search of photographs of three veterans from Covington County.
Since 2010, Janna Hoehn has been on the search for faces behind the names of those who died in the Vietnam War.
“It started when my husband and I made our first trip to Washington, D.C.,” Hoehn said.
“Vietnam was the war that was going on while I was in high school. I never knew anyone killed in Vietnam but I approached the wall and chose a name, Gregory John Crossman.”
That’s when her research began and since then it hasn’t stopped.
“I researched every way possible until my cousin, our family historian, found a college photo of Gregory six weeks later,” she said.
“The goal is to put a face with every name that is etched on the Vietnam Wall.”
Five days after the news broke out about Hoehn’s research, she received an email from the founder and president of the Vietnam Wall, Jan Scruggs.
“He thanked me for the photo and asked if I could help him find the photos for other Vietnam Veterans,” Hoehn said.
Hoehn began her search with her county, all the fallen Vietnam veterans from Maui County, Hawaii.
With help from local media, Hoehn achieved her goal of finding photographs of the 42 fallen soldiers from her county.
Since then, Hoehn has spent her time trying to locate faces to every Vietnam veteran on the Vietnam Wall.
“Since 2011, I’ve collected over 6,000 photos. I am taking it one state at a time, moving west to east. All of these photos are submitted to the ‘Wall of Faces’ online memorial with the Vietnam Memorial Fund website as well as to the future Education Center that will be adjacent to the Vietnam Wall in Washington.”
The three Vietnam soldiers from Covington County for whom she does not have photographs are:
- Aubrey Cauley of River Falls, born in 1941, deceased in 1966.
- Dewey R. Owens of Andalusia, born in 1948, deceased in 1968.
- Douglas S. Scroggins of Wing, born in 1947, deceased in 1968.
Hoehn says she could use all the help she could get.
“If anyone is related to, used to be a friend of, or a classmate of these young men on this list I would appreciate hearing from you. Even if you don’t have a photo but know which school any of these young men attended it would be helpful,” she said.
“I am also looking for an individual that would like to volunteer to research within your community if we don’t find all these photos,” she said.
For submission of photos or information, email Janna Hoehn at neverforgotten2014@gmail.com .
For more information about the Education Center or to make a donation to help build the center, go to www.vvmf.org/thewall.
To see pictures of other deceased Vietnam veterans from Covington County, go to http://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/search/results?COUNTY=Covington&HOME_ST_RC=AL.