Hundreds of names line the walls of Gold Star Hall in the Memorial Union as a testament to those ISU students who died serving their country during war. One local Vietnam War veteran and ISU alumnus believes several of those names do not belong.

Jim Olberding, who served two-and-a-half years in Vietnam, said 14 names should be removed because the men listed did not die in Vietnam combat.

Olberding said he researched every name listed on the Vietnam section of the memorial and discovered several of the men had died in airplane crashes nowhere near Vietnam, and another died while rappelling off a mountain in Turkey. Olberding said although these events were unfortunate they had nothing to do with the Vietnam War.

“The Memorial Union should be true to history and they are not being true to history,” Olberding said.

He said he believes including the names of individuals who did not die in Vietnam is a “slap in the face” to those who died in prisoner of war camps or in battle.

“What you are doing is you are desecrating the names of people who actually died there,” Olberding said.

Gold Star Hall was the inspiration for creating the Memorial Union. The dimly lit stone-walled memorial was named for the stars families put in the windows of their homes during World War I. Families would place a small blue star in the window if loved ones were gone fighting in the war. If a loved one died, the blue star was changed to gold as a way to share the loss with the community.

Memorial Union officials believe removing names from the wall would be insensitive to the families of the individuals.

“At this point I think to remove a name is desecration,” said Roger Ferris, program manager of the Memorial Union.

Olberding said if the Memorial Union does not want to sandblast the names off, he thinks they should include anyone who ever attended Iowa State who died under any circumstances at any time while serving in any military branch.

He also said he doesn’t agree with the criteria the Memorial Union used to choose the names for the wall. The memorial did not use the same criteria used for the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

“I think the criteria at the Memorial Union is bogus,” Olberding said.

Kathy Svec, program coordinator for the Memorial Union, said the names were chosen by the Alumni Association.

“The challenge is that all the people involved in the decision-making process are gone or deceased,” she said.

Memorial Union officials have looked at the notes of the Alumni Association staff members who made the decisions and were able to establish the criteria used, Svec said.

The criteria used for World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War differed from the original criteria used for World War I in 1928 when the Memorial Union opened, she said.

Svec said there was several criteria Alumni Association staff members used for the later wars. The wall includes the names of alumni who were killed in Vietnam, names of alumni reported missing in action in Vietnam, names of alumni killed during the Vietnam conflict but not in Vietnam at the time of their death and the names of alumni killed during Vietnam stationed in places other than Vietnam.

She said the individuals who chose the names were long-time Alumni Association staff members who did research on each name.

“We know that they took their job seriously and each and every individual was reviewed carefully,” Svec said. “It is our choice to trust their decision.”

The Memorial Union does not have any plans at this time to take the names in question off the wall, Svec said.

Olberding said he has also done research on the names listed on the Korean War section. He said he found some names he does not believe belong there as well.

He does not believe any of the names listed in the World War I and World War II sections should be removed regardless of whether the individual died in combat.

“During World War II everybody was in some ‘designated combat area,’ ” Olberding said. He said everyone was awarded a combat ribbon in World War II but this was not the case during the Vietnam War. The only people who received a combat ribbon in Vietnam served there.

“It wasn’t a world war, it was a very localized war,” Olberding said.

Mike McCoy, president of the Student Union Board, said he did not understand how Olberding believed anyone in uniform in World War I or World War II deserved to be on the wall, but did not feel the same about the Korean War or Vietnam War.

“He can’t use one set of rules for World War I and World War II and make up his own set for Vietnam,” McCoy said.

Although Memorial Union officials said they have no plans to remove names from Gold Star Hall, they are planning to add several additional names in the fall. Svec said they are planning to add names from the Vietnam War and one name from World War II in a solemn ceremony in September.

“Given enough evidence, we are pleased to add names,” Svec said.