On Saturday, January 22, at 1 p.m., the New Jersey Vietnam Veterans' Memorial Foundation will host a slide show and book discussion by Vietnam Veteran Thomas F. Morrissey, author and photographic illustrator of Between the Lines: Photographs from the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial, at the Vietnam Era Educational Center in Holmdel.

      The national Vietnam Veterans Memorial (“The Wall”) in Washington, DC, is the most visited memorial in the history of the United States.  Between the Lines is a collection of photographs designed to not only capture the faces of those who visit the monument but the emotion, solitude, and ultimate spirit of healing that take place there.  Throughout the book, Morrissey incorporates excerpts from messages that have been left at The Wall.

      Morrissey, of Lincoln, Rhode Island, served in Vietnam from 1970 to 1971 as a pilot and flight mission commander with the 117th Assault Helicopter Company.  He was combat decorated and honorably discharged at the rank of Chief Warrant Officer.  When he returned home from the war, he attended college and studied photography and sculpture.  Today, he is a professor of art and the director of exhibitions at the Community College of Rhode Island.   He began photographing The Wall and its visitors in 1983.  His artistic endeavors also include sculpting and working with artists in Vietnam, as part of an organized effort to foster professional relationships between American and Vietnamese art communities.  A Morrissey sculpture is on permanent display in the ancient Vietnamese city of Hue, and he has been selected to sculpt the Rhode Island Vietnam Monument.