An Oregon Vietnam War veteran with enduring survivor’s guilt refused to visit The Wall That Heals when it came to his town several years ago.
The traveling three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., is in its 30th year of touring the nation.
While fighting in Vietnam, the veteran came down with appendicitis. When he was sent to a hospital for treatment, a friend took his place on patrol. He later learned their platoon had been attacked. He never heard from his friend again and assumed he had been killed.
In the confusion of the platoon being transferred, he ended up with his friend’s dog tags. He carried them for decades to honor his friend’s memory.
“His wife told us what happened when she came with the dog tags to find the name on the wall,” says Cathy Miller, program manager/site manager for The Wall That Heals.
“We couldn’t find the name on the wall,” Cathy says. “We did some research and found he never died during the war. He was an engineer with three kids and five grandchildren and died in 2015. After her husband learned about his friend’s fate, he came the next day. He was finally healed after five decades of survivor’s guilt.”
‘Wall Magic’
Cathy has seen countless examples of healing as the wall travels the nation from March to November honoring the 58,281 men and women who died during the war. Three million Americans served in the Vietnam War.
“We call those healing moments ‘wall magic,’” she says. “We see things happen that never would have happened if the wall hadn’t come. A weight is lifted, and people’s expressions change as they cry and release emotion and pain.”
The nonprofit Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund created the mobile replica for those who cannot travel to the memorial wall in Washington, D.C. Two staff members from the memorial fund are at each host site. The replica was dedicated and displayed for the first time on Veterans Day in 1996.
Since then, the 375-foot-long wall has traveled to 800 communities where millions of people have toured it. In each location, the wall can be viewed for free for three days. An accompanying mobile education center with videos and memorabilia personalizes the roles of Americans in the war starting in 1950 when the United States had an advisory role.
“I’m blessed to be part of this, to do what I love, to create a safe place for people to heal,” Cathy says. “I meet the most wonderful people, Gold Star families honoring their loved ones, the volunteers who set it up and take it down, and truckers who donate their time to drive around the 53-foot-long trailer carrying it.”
Hitting the Road
Every year, only about 30 sites are selected from roughly 140 applicants to host The Wall That Heals. To be chosen, a community must provide 35 to 40 physically fit volunteers to erect and dismantle the wall, and have an adequate location and a short program about the wall.
Among the towns selected in the Northwest are Ellensburg, Washington, and Independence, Oregon.
Ellensburg, Washington, Sept. 4-7 at Rotary Park
While on a weeklong family vacation in Washington, D.C., Ellensburg resident Henry Johnston recalls how the Vietnam Veterans Memorial affected his two teenage sons.
“It’s a somber experience with the volume of names listed,” says Henry, a mortician in the Central Washington town of 19,000. “With the way it’s laid out, you feel a personalized impact of the war.”
Upon learning about the traveling wall, Henry says he knew it needed to come to his town.
“I notice, too, with my business that we’re burying more Vietnam vets,” he says.
He and Russell Colmore, a veteran, are members of the Downtown Ellensburg Rotary Club and organized Kittitas County’s other three clubs to host the wall. Henry, 39, says he became aware of the war due to his high school computer science teacher, who served in Vietnam with his three brothers.
Russell served in the Air Force from 1974-78. During the war, he was assigned to a refueling station in the Azores near Portugal.
Independence, Oregon, Sept. 18-21 at Sports Park
For several years, Vietnam veteran Billy Whisenant envisioned the traveling wall coming to Independence, a town of 10,000 in Western Oregon.
“It’s a perfect place, considering Independence is the first town to have a permanent Vietnam Veterans Memorial,” says Billy, cochairman of the host committee and commander of American Legion Post No. 33.
Dedicated in1982, the memorial at Main and Center streets was built by three Vietnam War veterans and is the oldest Vietnam War memorial west of the Mississippi River.
“Our local memorial has a dedication plaque set in stone,” Billy says.
A motorcycle escort is being planned to kick off the event Sept. 16.
“I’m grateful for all our dedicated community members coming together to make this successful for all who come,” Billy says.
Billy, a combat Marine Corps veteran who served from 1967-68, recalls being with a young man on the day he died in the war.
“It was emotional to find his name on the wall and have a good cry,” he says. “The wall is a place where people can feel free to talk to each other. It’s an opportunity to educate people of all ages about the war and its impact.”
The Wall That Heals’ schedule is at thewallthatheals.org. At each location, the wall opens at 9 a.m. on the first day, is open around the clock, and closes at 2 p.m. on the final day.
A Village of Volunteers
The Wall That Heals requires approximately 35 to 40 volunteers and takes six to 10 hours to set up.
More than 160 metal stakes are pounded into the ground to secure the metal framework that holds 140 panels bearing the names of American service members who died in the war from 1959-75. The panels increase in height, with the tallest at 7.5 feet weighing about 80 pounds. Made of a synthetic granite, each panel is sanded and polished during the winter offseason.
Listed by date of casualty, names include 43 sets of brothers, three sets of fathers and sons, 16 chaplains and eight women who were nurses. Those listed range in age from 15 to 62.