New name in an old war.

Byline: Eric Florip The Register-Guard

For the past two years, a modest memorial has allowed Eugene residents to pay tribute to 10 South Eugene High School alumni who died while serving in the Vietnam War.

But 10 became 11 Thursday evening, after another name was etched into the black monument in front of the school.

"Fortunately, we left some room at the bottom," said Adrian Vaaler, a 1963 South Eugene graduate and Vietnam veteran who began organizing the memorial several years ago.

James Roland Golz became the newest name to be immortalized on the stone. Vaaler said he was initially overlooked because he was a South Eugene student who dropped out of school sometime after his sophomore year.

Golz enlisted in the Marine Corps and was sent to Vietnam in December 1967, Vaaler said. Golz died on Jan. 27, 1968.

Vaaler said he found out about the oversight through a former classmate of Golz's who delivered the message of his death to his family in 1968. When the classmate learned of the memorial, he asked Vaaler about Golz.

"I went through the annuals from South Eugene with a list of casualties from Eugene," Vaaler said. "I just missed the name."

A few of Golz's classmates and fellow veterans watched Thursday as an engraver blasted sand through a stencil to carve the name into the stone.

They also looked at his picture in an old South Eugene yearbook.

None said they knew Golz in high school, but they were happy to give proper respect to a classmate who was nearly forgotten.

"I just think it's important to remember," said Betsy Datri, a former classmate of Golz's. "We remember as many of our deceased classmates as we can, regardless of how they became deceased."

An official rededication ceremony will be held as part of the Class of 1967's 40-year reunion.

Datri said she and a few other classmates are still trying to locate Golz's sister Linda, who graduated from South Eugene in 1966.

Steve Bridges, another former classmate of Golz's who served in Vietnam, said he was glad as a veteran to see Golz get the recognition he deserved by having his name added to the memorial.

"To me, it means that there's somebody who went there and didn't come back," he said. "I'm alive to pay my respects. I very well could have not come back."

For Vaaler, Thursday's engraving brought additional closure to the memorial.

He spent about three years trying to get approval from Eugene School District board members and various student groups before the memorial was completed and dedicated in May 2005.

Vaaler said he also plans to play "Taps" during the dedication.

"It helps bring to a close the experience and my remembrance of serving in Vietnam," he said.

VIETNAM MEMORIAL

REDEDICATION

What: A ceremony to rededicate the memorial to South Eugene alumni who died in the Vietnam War

When: 11:45 a.m. Aug. 11

Where: South Eugene High School, 400 E. 19th Ave.