All The Unsung Heroes

Of the 3 million men and women who served in the Vietnam War, the 58,000 who lost their lives are memorialized on "The Wall," the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, D.C. Designed by architectural student Maya Lin, The Wall was completed in November, 1982 and is visited by thousands who come to pay their respects each year. All The Unsung Heroes opens with an original song by Lane Brody which, frankly, doesn't carry the emotional significance that dozens of songs from the 1960s do, and then proceeds with Hallmark prose about the creation of the memorial. Brief biographical clips about some of the men listed on the memorial are followed by readings of letters left at The Wall by fellow veterans and family members. Although non-sensational, All The Unsung Heroes is also a curiously flat documentary (especially so considering the subject matter) that conveys the basic facts about the memorial but without the emotional punch of something like Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam which it loosely resembles. Still, veterans will be interested in this. Recommended, with reservations. (Available from: Threshold Marketing, 8418 Scarsdale Dr., Indianapolis, IN 46356.)