Wall Moves Them to Remember . . . : Veterans: A replica of the Vietnam memorial in Washington comes to Los Angeles for Veterans Day.

Carla Bendele was raised in the shadow of tanks at the Army’s armor training center at Ft. Hood, Tex. The daughter of a career officer, she knew the rigors and dangers of military life.

One college sweetheart and her first husband were killed during the height of the war in Vietnam, and a second husband committed suicide after coming home from the war.

She signed up for duty in Vietnam in 1966, experiencing both the conflict’s cruelty and its lighter moments firsthand as a civilian nurse attached to Army units based near Saigon.

But none of that prepared her for Friday, when she looked at the Moving Wall, the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington. The portable monument was set up for this weekend’s observance of Veterans Day at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in the Hollywood Hills.

“If people didn’t come up to talk to me, I think I’d be crying all day long,” said Bendele, 48, a nursing student at San Bernardino Valley College who tried to control her quivering voice. “It’s still very, very painful for me.”

There were other scenes at the wall as Forest Lawn officials prepared a round-the-clock vigil this weekend in honor of Veterans Day. The father of Army Sgt. James Michael Ray, declared missing in action March 18, 1968, placed a note on the wall next to his son’s name.

The note simply said, “Happy Birthday. We miss you.”

Two buddies who served in Vietnam as members of the Army’s 1st Infantry Division sat quietly, reaching out to touch the name of a friend on the wall. It is one of 58,156 listed on the wall--a 252-foot replica that is half the size of the Washington wall.

“Hey, Jimmy,” said Sal Flores, 41, of Sun Valley, “if you gotta be one. . . .”

“Be a Big Red One,” chimed in companion Armando Lopez of Arleta, referring to the bright red patch that division members wear on their uniforms.

The Moving Wall exhibit is being sponsored by Forest Lawn with the cooperation of two local chapters of Vietnam Veterans of America.

Forest Lawn spokesman Dick Fisher said various veterans organizations will have people on duty around the clock throughout the weekend to help visitors locate the names of loved ones on the wall. The exhibit can also be viewed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning Monday.

The exhibit closes Wednesday.

Several representatives of veterans groups spoke to a crowd of about 100 during an informal ceremony marking the exhibit’s opening Friday afternoon.

K.R. Zack Earp, chairman of California’s council of Vietnam Veterans of America, fought back tears in beseeching those in attendance:

“When you see a Vietnam veteran, reach out your hand and say, ‘Thank you . . . and welcome home.’ ”

Several hours earlier, a more formal Veterans Day ceremony--bursting with pomp and pageantry--drew about 300 to Forest Lawn’s Court of Liberty.

Participants in the 30th annual West Coast Sacred Torch Ceremony, featuring the presentation of torches lit in seven foreign countries, heard Army Maj. Gen. Robert C. Thrasher, the adjutant general of California’s National Guard, remind them of the sacrifices made by this nation’s war dead.

“Peace itself demands continual sacrifice,” the two-star general said. “Their lives will never be forgotten.”

But there was little of the intense emotion on display that was clearly evident during the smaller Vietnam ceremony. Standing near the wall, men in faded green fatigues routinely broke into tears. They occasionally embraced strangers, who offered comfort.

For her part, Bendele sat on a curb for a time and just stared at the wall.

“I’m not as bitter as I once was,” she said softly, recalling the deaths of loved ones. “Now, everyone on that wall is my personal friend.”