2008 Woodie Awards
Moving Vietnam memorial wall makes stop at VA Medical Center
Becky Kuschel
Issue date: 9/10/07 Section: News
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The St. Cloud VA Medical Center played host to the moving wall. The viewing ran Thursday to Monday, with an opening ceremony and 24-hour visitation.
The moving wall is a half-size model of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial located in Washington, D.C.
At the 1982 dedication in Washington, John Devitt was overcome with the power of the original wall and wanted everyone, even those who could not travel to D.C., to experience it. Vietnam veteran volunteers built the moving wall.
It first appeared in Texas in 1984 and since then, two construction of the wall have been touring the country every year, April to November.
On a rainy Saturday, people could be seen looking for names, taking pictures and comforting each other. The long black wall stood in the grass at the end of a lengthy road into the center lined with American flags.
The O'Neal family, with their two young sons, thought it would be interesting to come and see the wall Saturday.
"I think it's a really good thing," Diane O'Neal said, about the moving wall. It allowed her and her family to experience the wall without making a trip out to Washington, D.C.
"We're in boy scouts, so it's a good thing to come and see," Terry O'Neal said.
This was not Martha and Ray Roth's first visit to the moving wall or its original.
"Ray used to perform in a musical group that played at the dedication in '82 and then in '84 when they dedicated the statues," Martha Roth said. "We went every year and performed usually twice a year for Memorial Day and Veterans Day."
The couple hadn't seen the moving wall in a few years.
The Roths always look for the name of a friend's son.
They met her, a member of the American Gold Star Mothers, while performing at the dedication and were close friends for many years. She was part of the inspiration behind a song Ray Roth and two others wrote titled, "The Wall."
Helpers were out to assist people looking up and locating names.
"It's chronological," Ray Roth said, "There are basically panels here that represent a battle or a day. The one thing that struck me, having seen the wall a number of times, is I've seen veterans who've totally broken down. (They're looking at) a panel where a large portion of it is their buddies. It's overwhelming to see all these names, but then to think of the way they are placed."
"It's really powerful," said Martha Roth. "It's a really good reminder."