OCEANSIDE -- Triple amputee Jim Brunotte figures God kept him alive for a purpose after a land mine on a Vietnamese road tore apart his body and demolished the Jeep he was driving more than 30 years ago.

The former Army Military Police serviceman now spends his days counseling fellow veterans and their families at a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall.

Just last Sunday when the Wall -- which arrived in Oceanside on Tuesday -- was in Corona del Mar, Brunotte helped comfort a woman whose son was killed in a helicopter crash in Vietnam. She came to touch her son's name on the Wall as a way to come to terms with his death.

"I just want to find somebody who could tell me something about my son," she told Brunotte. Brunotte brought one of the other counselors over to her, a man who had worked with helicopter crews in Vietnam and could tell her what it was like.

Then, the magic that surrounds the Wall happened. The man suddenly realized he had known her son.

"I saw the chopper take off," he told her, then described what her son looked like on that long ago day. "I've been wearing your son's POW MIA bracelet all these years."

Making peace

"God's in charge," Brunotte said as he recalled the woman's story Monday. "We are not. We're just making peace with the past."

For Brunotte, making peace means providing counseling assistance through the nonprofit Point Man International Ministries. Any time the Vietnam Wall Experience, a three-quarter-size replica of the 493-foot-long monument in Washington, D.C., stops within hundreds of miles of his Vista home, Brunotte goes to comfort people.

When the Wall opens to the public Friday on a vacant lot at Pacific Street and Pier View Way, Brunotte will maneuver his motorized wheelchair through the crowds of visitors. He'll look for people who seem lost --- those who can't find the names of their loved ones or those who find the wall overwhelming.

Sometimes Brunotte directs them to the name they seek on the wall, and then leaves them alone for some private time. Sometimes he waits nearby and offers an ear for their stories. Sometimes he rushes into action on their request, hunting down nearby veterans who might have known their father, brother, sister, son or daughter.

"He has no trouble talking to anybody (at) that Wall and everybody wants to talk to him," said fellow chaplain Bill Hosmer, 60, of Carlsbad. "He usually spends a lot of time on the Wall, and I usually split my time between the Wall and the (nearby counseling) tent. He and I travel together a lot."

Private grief

Many veterans come alone to view the Wall. Hosmer, who served as a lieutenant in the Army infantry in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, knows why.

"The first time I went, I went alone because I didn't trust what my reactions were going to be," Hosmer said, adding that the experience was gripping.

That was more than eight years ago. Hosmer has been many times since, taking his relatives and serving as a counselor. Other people's needs dominate his time at the Wall these days, but he never forgets to stop and remember the people he knows on the Wall.

"I go there first for my own needs, to say good-bye to some of the men who are on the wall," Hosmer said. "I go for something personal, and once I've done that, then I reach out to others who are there."

An emotional experience

Not everyone comes alone to view the Wall. Some veterans bring their families, others bring their buddies.

Hosmer recalls one motorcycle gang whose members came up the Wall swaggering in their leather jackets. Other visitors edged away from them, but Hosmer went up to one of the guys, "and I thanked him for his service and he just kind of melted," he said. "Everybody else was afraid to talk to him. He was twice my size."

Last Sunday when the wall was in Corona, one man approached Hosmer seeking help with "survivor's guilt." He had served in the military just after Vietnam and felt guilty that he hadn't gone to Vietnam.

"He needs to be talked through that sort of thing," Hosmer said, describing how he spent 45 minutes comforting the man and telling him he should be proud of the time he had given to his country.

Most of the conversations take place in a tent near the traveling Wall. Members of Point Man ministries direct people to the tent after they've helped them find their loved ones' names.

"It's a safe place," Hosmer said of the counseling tent. "What we provide in our ministry is a safe place for things no one else wants to talk about. The wall isn't really the safe place to do that."

A flood of memories

The chaplains need the safe area because the conversations can become extremely emotional, Hosmer said. For some veterans, seeing the Wall triggers all sorts of memories --- things they've been trying to push away for decades.

"When a Vietnam vet gets triggered, you get a flashback to a certain place and time," Hosmer said. "Civilians don't understand that at all. The last time it happened to me, I was in church singing about a narrow path … (suddenly) I was back on a narrow path in Vietnam where certain things happened."

Some veterans break down at the wall, and chaplains comfort them, telling them they have a "very normal reaction."

"They went through some trauma that the average citizen around here doesn't know about," Hosmer said.

There are more than 58,000 names on the wall. That's more than 58,000 stories waiting for someone to hear them, Brunotte said.

"That's what the Wall is all about, bringing people together," he said.

The Vietnam Wall Experience

How to get there

• From Interstate 5, take the Mission Avenue offramp, turn west, drive downtown to Myers Street and park in any of the lots or side streets. If you're driving west on Highway 78, take Interstate 5 north to get to the Mission Avenue offramp. If you're driving west on Highway 76, take I-5 south to get to the Mission Avenue offramp.

• Mission Avenue will be closed Sunday for an antiques fair. Motorists should plan on taking the Vista Way exit, at the Interstate 5/Highway 78 interchange, and then follow road signs pointing the way to the memorial.

Ceremonies & candlelight vigil

• Opening ceremony: noon Friday. The Wall will open to the public after opening ceremonies.

• Candlelight vigil: 7 p.m. Saturday. Candles will be given to everyone visiting The Wall during the vigil.

• Closing ceremony: 5 p.m. Sunday, although The Wall will remain open to the public until midnight that night.

Parking meters

• City officials expect the biggest crowds of the weekend during and after opening ceremonies at noon Friday, and they have said they will not enforce parking meters during opening ceremonies.

Finding names on The Wall

• Volunteers will be available to help visitors find names on The Wall -- using the last name of the deceased and computer software to identify the pertinent panel and location on the panel of a specific name. There also will be manuals at the site listing names on The Wall alphabetically, and each name will include the panel number. Rubbing paper will be supplied for free to those who want to make an impression of a name from The Wall.