The Moving Wall has been in Owensboro since Thursday. The Wall is a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial in Washington, DC. The Wall is 253 feet long, which is slightly longer than half the length of the Memorial in Washington, DC. The Moving Wall is comprised of two walls, each 126.5 feet in length, and is made of aluminum panels, their surfaces painted with a gloss black polyurethane. The names are silk-screened onto the walls, and feel as if they are etched. The Wall has been traveling around the country since 1984, from April to November each year.
As of January 1, 2009, there are 58,261 names listed on the memorial. Approximately 1,300 of these are still unaccounted for POWs and MIAs. When the Memorial in Washington was constructed, it was believed that the first American casualties occurred in 1959. After the dedication of the Memorial in 1982 it was learned that another death occurred in 1957, and that name was added to the Wall. In 2000, Richard Fitzgibbon, Jr. had his name inscribed on the Wall (he was killed in 1956). The last deaths occurred on May 18, 1975. Names continue to be added to the Wall, as needed. Interestingly, only 8 of the names are of women, all of them nurses.
The sun was incredibly bright while we were viewing the Wall, and we had to shield our eyes while looking at it. You can see yourself reflected in the Wall so clearly it is almost like a mirror. I want to visit the Memorial in Washington and touch the polished black granite. There were quite a few people at the Moving Wall today, and the area was manned by volunteers who looked as if they were Vietnam Vets. Many of them had black leather on; several were with various motorcycle groups. These guys are starting to look old to me. The height of the war was in 1968, so if you were 18 then, you would be 59 now. That is still young, but so many of these Vets look older than their years.
As with the Memorial in Washington, people leave mementos at the Wall, and, they, too, are kept. I saw a few things there today that made me wonder if they were really left, or if they were just there while the Wall is in town. The National Parks Service maintains the collection, and some 1,500 items are on display indefinitely at the Smithsonian. There was an Owensboro High School yearbook at the Wall today; it was left in memory of John Bruce Weill, class of 1967.
As I stood before the Wall I reflected on how lucky my family is, because we were basically untouched by the war. My father served his 4 years in the Army and was released right before he would have been shipped to Vietnam, and none of my uncles were there. Considering how long it went on, and how many lives were lost, that is remarkable.
19 YEARS
58,253 of our sons, brothers, uncles, boyfriends, fathers and friends
8 women dedicated to the care of others
16 military chaplains
It is our duty to remember, to stand watch and to remain vigilant, to ensure that it never happens again.
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