It’s one of the most emotional places to visit in the country: a
memorial for the people who were killed in the most controversial
of our country’s wars.
It’s one of the most emotional places to visit in the country: a memorial for the people who were killed in the most controversial of our country’s wars.
And you don’t have to go to Washington, D.C., just to see it thanks to the hard work of a man named John Devitt and the overwhelming support of veterans and community members across the country.
And, just more than 20 years after Devitt attended the dedication of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982, his vision of giving the experience of the wall to everyone continues to thrive.
Devitt wanted to give other the same touching experience he had at the memorial, and he decided to find a way to make it available to everyone – not just those who visit the nation’s capital.
Devitt and other Vietnam veterans decided to build a half-size copy of the memorial that was designed by Maya Ying Lee, a 21-year-old architecture student from Yale University.
Her strikingly different approach to a memorial – made from two walls of polished black marble forming the shape of a ‘V’ with a list of more than 58,000 names of veterans killed or missing during the conflict in Vietnam – has made it the most-visited memorial in Washington, D.C.
The names on the wall are etched into the stone in chronological order from each soldier’s date of death, and the silence of mouring and the sheer reflective qualities in the marble make it one of the most tear-jerking places to visit – especially for those who have lost a loved one.
Devitt’s version of the wall first went on display in October of 1984, and the memorial has spent eight months of each year touring the United States ever since. The memorial made a stop in Los Banos starting Wednesday and will be on display at Los Banos Park until Tuesday. The wall will also make a stop in Santa Clara next month. The wall was displayed in Gilroy in 1997 and 1991.
According to Rick Dahlgren, who is the project facilitator for the moving wall’s stop in Los Banos, preparing for the event has been a lot of hard work, but there has been plenty of help.
“We have about 50 volunteers who have helped put this together,” he said. “It pretty much takes up the whole park.”
He also said finding volunteers to help out with preparing the park, setting up the wall and working the four-hour shifts to keep an eye on the 250- foot wall 24 hours a day has been easy. The wall’s appearance has created “all kinds of interest.”
“I’ve gotten at least 50 e-mails,” he said. “A lot of them are calling to find out what time it will be here, and some call to help volunteer. I’ve gotten several calls from Hollister and Gilroy … all over the Valley.”
Dahlgren said getting the wall to visit the city was no easy feat because of the waiting list.
“We applied for it four years ago. It took three and a half years to get it,” he said.
The city held an opening ceremony for the wall’s appearance Wednesday, honoring the 52 soldiers from Merced County who died in Vietnam. The coming of the wall has provided a fresh sense of patriotism for the city, which has revamped its park and prepared for a large number of visitors.
“For the town and city council, they were very excited that the wall was finally coming,” Dahlgren said. “The park is getting refurbished for the event; there’s going to be a lot of people from outside of Los Banos that will be here.”
The moving wall will be on display in Los Banos right off of Highway 152 in the heart of the city at Los banos Park, which is located next to the stadium. For more information about the Vietnam Moving Wall, visit www.themovingwall.org.
