The men and women who served in the Vietnam War were not the only ones deeply impacted. Saturday night’s ceremony at the Moving Wall focused on Vietnam veterans and their families, emphasizing the role of the loved ones waiting at home.

Jill Robertson, a Wareham resident, lost her grandfather in the Vietnam War and visited the wall Saturday. Her grandfather, Leo Horan, was killed in action at age 32 after enlisting in the war.

“I never met him; I’ve only heard stories,” Robertson said. She found her grandfather’s name on the Moving Wall and made a rubbing of it, also bringing along his photograph.

Jo-Ann Morgan came to Wareham from her home in Hopkinton on Saturday to find her high school classmate’s name on the wall. She was close with Eugene Cormier, who was drafted at age 22 and was killed in action.

“These men and women deserve all the credit and tribute because they were never really accepted when they came home,” Morgan said.

But some Moving Wall visitors were not among those who personally knew someone who died in the Vietnam War. Michelle Goddard, who lives in Dartmouth, was in college when news of the Vietnam War was on the front pages of newspapers across the country.

“I took a break from studying and picked up The Boston Globe and in the headline was the number of the dead,” Goddard recalled. She felt “separated” from the war, though her friends were worried about being drafted.

“I saw on TV what was happening and I felt guilty they had to go when my life was separate from that,” Goddard said. She believed the war was for a good cause and would stop the spread of communism.

“We believed in it, but we wondered,” Goddard said. “It was devastating because these men were the same age as us.”

Whether the Moving Wall visitors had a loved one in the war or not, most recalled the impact the Vietnam War had on their lives. Lois Ladd of Wareham was at home with her kids during the war, but her son-in-law enlisted and eventually returned safely.

“I get weepy at the wall because each one of these names has a family and they have a mother somewhere,” Ladd said. “This brings the depth of my allegiance to my country.”

Ladd, now 83, still vividly remembers the pride, worry, gratitude and pain she felt during the Vietnam War. She visited the Moving Wall three times while it was in Wareham.

“If I could do one thing to make this country a little stronger, I would try to teach people you don’t take things for granted,” Ladd said.

There was standing room only at the ceremony, where Vietnam veteran Henry Mello spoke about his therapist’s advice when he returned from serving in the army.

“My therapist suggested I write down all the things that happened in Vietnam,” Mello said. He described the tears that fell on the pages as he wrote, but once it was written he was able to share his story to help heal other veterans.

“I hope that all veterans can find that inner strength to start a conversation about what happened when they were at war,” Mello said.

Keynote speaker Brigadier General James Carpenter agreed the war was hard to move on from for veterans like himself.

“I left Vietnam, but truth be told, it hasn’t left me,” Carpenter said. He is transported back to Vietnam by certain sounds, sights and smells in everyday life. But would he do it again? Absolutely, he said.

“Their actions gave us the freedom we have and have changed the course of history,” Carpenter said.

The Moving Wall is open 24 hours a day through the closing ceremony Aug. 21 at 10 a.m. Click here for the full schedule of events.