One photo remains to complete vietnam project

Only one more photo is needed to complete a project aiming to collect pictures of everyone in Arkansas who died while serving in the Vietnam War, according to a news release from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

The nonprofit is seeking a picture of Pfc. Robert Lee “Troy” Clark, who died in May 1966 when he was 22 years old, volunteer researcher Mary DeWitt said. The Tucker native is buried at the Little Rock National Cemetery.

He was survived at that time by his wife Betty Grant Clark — who then lived in Hot Springs — his parents, Lucious and Laura Clark, and 12 siblings.

The effort is part of a larger project that began in 2009 to collect photos of all 58,318 people whose names are inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

Nearly 56,000 photos have been found and posted on the organization’s Wall of Faces website, according to the release. They will eventually be displayed at an educational center that will be built on the National Mall in Washington.

DeWitt said Arkansas, which had 596 residents die in the war, will be the 32nd state with images of all of its service members once Clark’s photo is found.

“Putting a face to each name helps people understand the true cost of war, to drive home the fact that every name on the wall represents a real person whose life was cut short,” Jim Knotts, president and chief executive officer of the memorial fund, said in a statement Wednesday. “Each photo represents a family and friend forever changed.”