With the Vietnam Traveling Wall as a backdrop at West Park in Festus, Jesuit Father Joe Laramie quietly visited with folks paying respects to friends, relatives or just plain strangers among soldiers who died in the war.
Originally, he had planned to be there to share information about an upcoming retreat, exclusively for veterans, just before Independence Day, July 1-3 at the White House Jesuit Retreat.
But as often happens with priests, he spent time ministering — "light ministry," he called it — to men and women who had come to see the wall.