Danny Poff and Larry Wilson were planning to go to college together and study architecture.
Wilson went to the University of Washington and became an architect. Poff went into the Army, and his name now is part of a project Wilson is working on. It’s a memorial to local troops who were killed in the Vietnam War.
“You have memories of good childhood friends who didn’t have the opportunity to live a full life,” Wilson said.
The memorial will be built on Vancouver’s Veterans Affairs campus, joining other tributes to service personnel lost in other conflicts. It will be adjacent to a Huey helicopter that has been mounted for display and is visible from Interstate 5.
Organizers hope to start construction within the next two or three weeks. Plans are being made for a dedication ceremony, although the date hasn’t been determined.
The project is a volunteer effort, and several local businesses are donating labor and materials.
Wilson said he was brought into the project by Columbia River high school classmate Dale Surface, a Marine veteran.
Larry Smith and Dan Tarbell, also members of the group, are co-chairs of the nonprofit Community Military Appreciation Committee.
Smith came to Vancouver later in his 26-year Army career. While Smith didn’t know any of the men on the local KIA/MIA list, “The war is still very personal to me,” the former Vancouver city councilor said.
During two combat tours, “I lost soldiers that I will never, never forget.” And this memorial, Smith said, is a way to ensure that Clark County military personnel killed in action won’t be forgotten.
The memorial will include bronze plaques with the names of 58 men who were killed in action in Vietnam or who are missing in action. It is important to remember that behind every name on a plaque, there is a story of a soldier, Smith noted.
Wilson still remembers his friend’s story.
“Danny Poff was my next-door neighbor, and his father was a well-known contractor,” the 1965 Columbia River grad said. “Danny and I built soap-box derby racers together. He also had an artistic flair and we talked about going to the University of Washington’s college of architecture together. I had a student deferment, and he went to Vietnam and got killed.”
Another classmate, Dan Chaney, also died in Vietnam.
“A third friend who was killed was Leslie Funk, from Longview. He won’t be on the memorial, but we were competitors in swimming. We would go to the state swimming meets in Seattle,” Wilson said.
