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A message carved into a Springfield house during its construction has left homeowner Robin Campbell wondering for years about the worker who quietly wrote: “Get Out of Viet-Nam.”

The roughly six-foot-long inscription, with letters about six inches tall, was found on a cement wall after a gardener cleared weeds and shrubbery near the home off Old Keene Mill Drive. Vegetation had concealed the words for years.

“One of the workers found the letters carved into the cement,” Campbell said. “What was he thinking when he carved it? I would love to know.”

The house was built in 1968, one of the Vietnam War’s most turbulent years. The Tet Offensive dominated the news, anti-war protests spread across the country and young men faced the draft. Nearly 17,000 U.S. casualties were recorded that year, including 246 Americans killed in action on Jan. 31 alone.

Sometime during the Springfield home’s construction, a worker apparently felt strongly enough about the war to leave a permanent message—even though it would remain largely hidden.

The inscription also intersects with Campbell’s family history. Although her father was a Canadian citizen and did not face the draft, her parents were keenly aware of the anti-war sentiment among young people and moved to Canada. Campbell was born there in 1971.

Her family relocated to Springfield in 1978 and bought the house in 1986. Campbell graduated from West Springfield High School in 1989. She and her husband later purchased the property from her parents, who moved to nearby Greenspring Village.

Campbell’s father eventually showed her the carving and explained that a gardener had discovered it after the family moved in. Why he waited to tell her about the message remains another part of its story.

Now Campbell is considering an investigation into the inscription’s origins, possibly by searching construction records and identifying the home’s builders. She wonders whether the mason had returned from the war, opposed it as a protester or had lost friends in Vietnam.

Campbell also sees a connection between the political activism of the 1960s and modern forms of protest.

“There are also a lot of ways to protest, and I like the idea of one of the masons working on our house finding a way to make his voice heard, even if no one knew it at the time,” she wrote in an email.

The inscription’s spelling may offer a clue to its age. It uses “Viet-Nam,” a hyphenated form that appeared historically but is uncommon today. That small detail adds to Campbell’s belief that the message is an authentic remnant of the era—and leaves her determined to learn who carved it and why.