 Good morning on this beautiful day. I'm Mark Uptegrove, the director of the LBJ Presidential Library, and I'm joined today by Greg Fenvis, the president of the University of Texas at Austin, and John Meturko, the Texas chair of the Vietnam Veterans of America. Before we get started today, please stand for the posting of the colors and combat cross ceremony led by the Texas Association of Vietnam Veterans Color Guard and Honor Guard. Please be seated. The Vietnam War is a pivotal, though painful, chapter in the life of our nation, and an intrinsic part of the legacy of our 36th president, Lyndon Baines Johnson. As such, it is a subject that President Johnson would want us to address and analyze, as he might say, with the bark off. In the next few weeks, the LBJ Presidential Library will be taking a comprehensive, unvarnished look at the Vietnam Wars through a series of exhibits and symposia. Currently, the library is featuring an exhibit called Vietnam Evidence of War, a collection of photographs and artifacts from UT's Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. Additionally, an exhibit by the LBJ Library in our great hall traces American relations with Vietnam from the Truman through Ford administrations and shows key original documents, including the signed Vietnam War peace accords and the Pentagon Papers. Next week, along with the University of Texas, we will host the Vietnam War Summit, a three-day conference on the Vietnam War and its lessons and legacy. Among others, it will feature Ken Burns, Tom Hayden, Bob Carey, Henry Kissinger, William McRaven, Dan Rather, Chuck Robb, and Jan Scruggs, and a keynote address by Secretary of State John Carey. And today, we are here to open the wall that heals a half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, the most visited memorial in our nation's capital with an annual visitorship of over 4 million. But many Americans are not able to visit what has become known simply as the wall. Bringing this wall to Austin will give thousands of veterans and their family members an opportunity to see the memorial and remember those who served in Vietnam. The wall honors the more than 3 million Americans who served in the US Armed Forces during the Vietnam War and bears the names of 58,307 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in their service in Vietnam. The wall will be open 24 hours a day from now until Friday, April 29. Volunteers will be on hand to answer questions about the wall, help find names of fallen veterans, and provide historical context for the wall and the Vietnam War. Additionally, volunteers will have on hand lapel pins to present to Vietnam veterans by way of honoring their service. The pins are provided by the US Vietnam War Commission, commissioned by the US government to thank, recognize, and honor our Vietnam veterans. And now it's my great pleasure to welcome to the podium the President of the University of Texas at Austin, Greg Fentus. Well, thank you, Mark, and welcome on this beautiful day. President Johnson wanted his library and archives, this fantastic building behind us, to help this generation and future generations understand our history to create a better future for our country and all our citizens, to fill LBJ's charge to create a better future. We do study the past, and as Mark described, one of the most significant post-World War II events in this country was the Vietnam War. And I'm proud here at the University of Texas that in our mission to transform lives for the benefit of society, we will lead in this important dialogue, this important discussion and understanding the lessons and the impact today of the Vietnam War and the impact on all the veterans and members of the armed forces who served in that war. But this will also be a time that we can honor those who have served. The state of Texas played a very important role in the Vietnam War. The many military bases and installations in the state have trained pilots and nurses and of course fighting soldiers. The Huey helicopter, which became symbolic of the American presence in the war in Vietnam was designed and largely built by a Texas company, Bell Helicopter. And it had a very important role in evacuating for medical treatment wounded soldiers. And more than 3,400 Texans have their name inscribed in the wall in this memorial. And so this is an opportunity for Texans who aren't able to travel to Washington, DC to see the wall, to see it here in replica and see the names of the 3,400 Texans. We're very honored to host this wall here. I remember my first visit to the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial in Washington, DC. And I still remember descending the slope, looking at name after name on the black wall. And as you go down below grade, all of a sudden gets quiet. You no longer realize you're in Washington, DC on the National Mall. All you see is the black wall with endless names one after the other. And then eventually coming out the other side and coming back to Washington, DC and coming back to modern life. And but you remember each of those names that you passed on the walk by the wall. And so we're very proud here, along with the LBJ Presidential Library and the University of Texas to host this wall here so that everybody locally and around the university has the opportunity to get a bit of that experience and the recognizing incredible sacrifice American soldiers had in Vietnam. University of Texas is committed to our veterans. In fact, we have 600 veterans studying at the University of Texas now, each bringing their unique experiences in the military to their education, but also adding to the education of other students here at UT. And just coincidentally, we have a very, we have coincidentally this morning, I visited with our ROTC cadets and midshipmen. We have a very large ROTC program here and 6.30 this morning out on the Tower Mall, another big mall on campus. We gave the Presidential Cup to the Army ROTC who beat the Navy and beat the Air Force in their physical training competition. But we're very glad to have everybody here today. Want to thank Mark for putting together the Vietnam Summit. This will be an exciting opportunity for the university community and the public to engage in important lessons of history so that we can continue to make the great progress this country has and continue to recognize the veterans who have served this country so valiantly. Now, I'd like to introduce John Maturko from the Texas Vietnam Veterans Association. So John, please come on up. Morning. Morning. Thank you. It is my honor to welcome you and to welcome the more than 58,000 men and women of my war who arrive here as names listed on a wall. To all Vietnam War veterans present here today, welcome home. Vietnam War combat journalist Joe Galloway has written that those of us who have seen the war will never stop seeing it. For us, the veterans of Vietnam, we will never stop seeing the faces behind these names. They were our comrades. We trained together. We were barracks buddies. We fought side by side. We who are here today came home. They did not. For the next few days, the LBJ Library will host many discussions about the war. About its policies and its legacy. But for us, the most important legacy is that these men and women are never forgotten. We came home to a nation divided, embroiled in the controversy of our war, and it was left to us to find a way to honor our own dead. The result was the National Vietnam War Memorial, which is replicated here. This is our cathedral, the sacred place where we go to remember our war and to remember our friends. What we want you to know is that each of these names is a real person. They were young, brave, and dedicated soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines. They had families whose enormous losses were swallowed in the bitter politics of the Vietnam War. And they had friends. We laughed together in the dark humor that only warriors can understand. We huddled together in the monsoons, flew together into battle, stood side by side facing death. These are not just names to us. These are our brothers and our sisters. Maya Ling Lin, the designer of the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the wall, said, for death is in the end a personal and private matter. And the area contained with this memorial is a quiet place, meant for personal reflection and private reckoning. Just a mile from where we stand here today on the northeast grounds of the state capital is another such place, a monument, where the names of the 3,415 Texans, plus two known only to God, who died or are missing in Vietnam and are entombed with their personalized dog tags. At the LBJ Library three years ago when we broke ground for that monument, more than 100 volunteers joined to read the 3,417 names allowed in a ceremony that lasted over 10 hours. Texas ties to the Vietnam War of many, it was home to the commander in chief, to military bases that trained all medical personnel and helicopter pilots and to one high school, Edgewood in San Antonio, who along with the Philadelphia School lost more of its graduates than any in the United States, 54 young men remembered by family and veterans. The wall reminds Texans in the nation of the terrible cost of the Vietnam War. As individual warriors, the wall is the eternal reminder that brave men and women gave their last full measure for their state and their country. The wall is where we come to visit, to remember, to share memories of our brothers and arms and to speak their names. For a man cannot die while his name is spoken. My fellow veterans, I know each of you will descend into our cathedral in the next few days. Each of you will visit some when you knew and remember. On panel 06 West, line 92, you will find the name of US Air Force First Lieutenant James Francis Saxby. C-123 co-pilot, killed in action, 29 November 1970, Ninh Toan, South Vietnam. Jim Saxby is my friend, my college classmate. Tonight we will visit. Jim, you will not die as long as I speak your name. Thank you. Thank you, John. Greg, thank you as well. Thank you all for coming out today. Special thanks to our veterans and to those of you who served in Vietnam. As John said, welcome home to your cathedral. Thanks so much.