Dennis Best is a double-amputee veteran who pushed himself in a wheelchair across state lines nearly four decades ago, carrying the traced names of Philadelphians killed in Vietnam back to the city that would eventually memorialize them. On Wednesday, he returned to Philadelphia's Veterans Day gathering as community members honored the sacrifices of everyone whose names now appear on the memorial's walls.
Best was part of The Last Patrol, a 1987 fundraising march that carried volunteers from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia, according to 6abc. Before setting out, participants traced the names of fallen veterans onto pieces of paper at the national memorial in the capital, then physically carried those tracings home to Philadelphia. Best was among those who made the journey, rolling himself in his wheelchair across the miles between the two cities.
Accounts of exactly how long that journey lasted differ. Best has said he rolled back from Washington over a five-day period, while the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial's own account says the march took six days in May 1987. The distance covered is similarly disputed — a UPI report from the time described a 140-mile trek, while a 2021 account put the journey at 143 miles, with Best said to have carried an ammo box in his wheelchair holding the names of the Philadelphians killed in the war.
A Fund-Raising Mission With a $600,000 Goal
The Last Patrol wasn't just symbolic. Per UPI's 1987 coverage, 10 members of the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund drive made etchings of 628 Philadelphia men killed in the war before setting out, with plans to place those names inside a planned memorial at Penn's Landing. The fund was trying to raise $600,000, and veterans sold Operation Brotherly Love T-shirts to help cover the cost.
Best's involvement in the cause ran deeper than the march itself. From 1985 to 1987, he led a grassroots effort to build Philadelphia's permanent memorial, the station notes. That effort culminated in the memorial's dedication on October 26 and 27, 1987, according to the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which says the tracings The Last Patrol carried home are interred on the memorial's south side.
How Many Names, Exactly
The precise count of names on the memorial's Wall of Names has shifted across different tellings over the decades. The memorial organization says it has added 18 names since the dedication, bringing the current total to 648, with the two most recent added on Memorial Day in 2016. A 2007 report in the Inquirer put the figure at 646 names at that time. The 1987 UPI dispatch, meanwhile, described 628 etched names before the march even began. The available record does not explain exactly how or when each of those counts changed.
What has stayed consistent is the gathering itself. Community members came together this Veterans Day to honor the sacrifices of all whose names are on the walls, with Best among those present as an original contributor to the memorial's creation. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is entering its 40th anniversary in 2027, a milestone that gives added weight to the presence of people like Best who helped build it from the ground up.
