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Vietnam Veterans Memorial will visit Yates

Jan 01, 2024 at 05:03 pm by Observer-Review


Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund
YATES COUNTY–The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) has announced The Wall That Heals national tour schedule for 2024. The exhibit includes a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial along with a mobile education center. The 29th season of touring replica will begin Jan. 24 and visit 33 communities during the year. The traveling exhibit honors the more than three million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in the Vietnam War and bears the names of the 58,281 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.
“We look forward to providing our host communities a healing experience for local veterans and their families and an educational experience for all visitors,” said Jim Knotts, president and CEO of VVMF. “We are excited to kick off our touring season with our first-ever visit to the state of Hawaii. Our ability to bring this exhibit throughout the nation to honor and remember all those who served in the Vietnam War is more important than ever. We want to ensure that the Vietnam generation never forget how much we appreciate their service today.”
Nearly 100 communities sought the opportunity to host The Wall That Heals in 2024. Penn Yan’s dates for this summer are August 8 to 11.
The three-quarter scale Wall replica is 375 feet in length and stands 7.5 feet high at its tallest point. With the replica at this size, visitors are able to experience The Wall rising above them as they walk towards the apex, a key feature of the design of The Wall in D.C.
Like the original Memorial, The Wall That Heals is erected in a chevron-shape and visitors are able to do name rubbings of individual service member’s names on The Wall. The names are listed in order of date of casualty and alphabetically on each day. Beginning at the center/apex, the names start on the East Wall (right-hand side) working their way out to the end of that wing, picking up again at the far end of the West Wall (left-hand side) and working their way back in to the center/apex. The first and last casualties are side by side at the apex of the Memorial.
The replica is constructed of Avonite, a synthetic granite, and its 144 individual panels are supported by an aluminum frame. LED lighting from the top of The Wall provides readability of The Wall at night.
The Wall That Heals is transported from community to community in a 53-foot trailer. When parked, the trailer opens with exhibits built into its sides, allowing it to serve as a mobile education center telling the story of the Vietnam War, The Wall and the divisive era in American history.
Since its debut in 1996, the exhibit has been on display in more than 700 U.S. communities in addition to an April 1999 tour of the Four Provinces of Ireland and a visit to Canada in 2005. The Wall That Heals is a program of VVMF, the nonprofit organization that built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. in 1982. More information can be found at: www.thewallthatheals.org.
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