GUILFORD – A local veteran who narrowly escaped becoming a prisoner of war has spent considerable time and money designing a wall in memory of New England servicemen and women who were not as lucky in the Vietnam War.

Ralph Eastman, 63, designed and funded a 4-foot by 8-foot movable wall that lists the names of 102 New England servicemen and women, along with two civilians who the government classified as missing in action or as prisoners of war. The wall identifies those who were killed in action or who died in captivity but whose bodies were never recovered, those who were known prisoners, and those who had a presumptive finding of death.

In addition to the development of the wall, Eastman spent hours searching the Internet to compile a notebook filled with the biographies of the listed military members, a book that will be continually updated as remains are recovered.

“This is near and dear to me,” Eastman said Tuesday of his project.

Of the 104 named on the wall, 14 are from Maine including Richard Dority formerly of Dover-Foxcroft. A member of the Army, Dority went missing in 1970. Since the wall was completed, the remains of four of those listed have been recovered and those names are noted with a blue star.

“Maybe this [memory wall] will make them all come home,” Eastman said.

The Guilford native, who served his country for 23 years, recalled his own harrowing escape from the Vietcong.

Then a member of the Army Airborne Infantry, Eastman and his company had been checking for enemies in Pleiku in the central highlands of Vietnam when children they had given candy to earlier reported Vietcong soldiers were nearby, he recalled. The servicemen quickly scattered. A local woman motioned for Eastman to come into her 12-foot by 12-foot shanty that was dimly lighted. Following her orders, Eastman said he slid under an old metal bed and pressed his back against the wall while cradling his rifle. The woman flipped a blanket over the side to cover him.

Seconds later, Eastman recalled he heard two people enter the home, one of whom flipped up the blanket and swiped his rifle beneath the bed. The rifle never connected with his body and the Vietcong soldiers left.

“I figured they heard my heart beating,” Eastman said.

“We all survived, I don’t know how but we all got away,” Eastman said. After the Vietnam War, Eastman served with the Special Forces and assisted in searches for POWs and MIAs.

It was those who were left behind in Vietnam – who were never found or whose bodies were never located- who continually remind him of the price of freedom. They are such a part of American history, that Eastman visits local schools to speak to children about the sacrifices made for them. Something visual to tell the story, however, was always in the back of his mind.

While helping plan Guilford’s annual Riverfest celebration set for July 28, Eastman conceived the memory wall. His wall, along with the Maine Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall, will be displayed side-by-side at the event sponsored by the Guilford Area Kiwanis Club. He also plans to take the exhibit to schools and is willing to lend it to organizations.

“They have not been forgotten,” Eastman said of the POWs and MIAs.

Eastman said he used to suffer from the night sweats while he was away from his hometown. Only when he returned home was the cycle broken, he said.

“I came home and like these guys, they need to come home.”