Traveling Wall: A veteran remembers his brother who died in Vietnam

There are 58,276 names on the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall.

Or “The Wall,” as it is better known.

Every one of those names means something to someone.

Elliot Williams lost his brother, David, in the Vietnam War.

Williams, now 82, still feels the pain 54 years later.

“He was 5 years younger,” said Williams as he tried to keep the tears away. “Oh, shoot.”

David was a freshman in college when he got drafted in 1967. He was killed two months later.

“The mine exploded while he was trying to detach the detonation device and it killed four people in the team,” Williams said. “He was one of them.”

Williams, who also served in the Marines, visited the Traveling Wall in Collier County, where it will be until Monday.

He visited to find David’s name on the wall and to say a prayer.

And for the first time in 20 years, to talk about his loss.

“When they came to my house and told us, even the army officer that was sent out on that detail to tell my mother he couldn’t explain why. She asked why and he couldn’t explain,” Williams said.

Williams doesn’t think he will ever heal.

“I didn’t agree with the war. I did not agree with it and I still don’t,” he said.

The last thing he shared was a message meant for his brother.

“I love you and I miss you.”