Ann Mclean visited the “Wall That Heals” replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Friday and watched her son’s name appear on a screen that displayed the names of local fallen soldiers. William was 18 when he died during the Vietnam War.
“It’s someplace to come and see remembrance of my son,” Mclean said of the Memorial Wall.
Although the original Vietnam Memorial Wall is in Washington, D.C., Athens residents like Mclean were able to pay their respects to fallen soldiers at Ohio University’s Bicentennial Park over the weekend.
All 58,318 names of Americans who died during the war in Vietnam are engraved on the replica of the wall.
Dick Holmes, a retired U.S. Marine Corps major and a consultant with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which funds the "Wall that Heals", said the wall allows people who can’t travel to Washington, D.C., to pay their respects to the fallen soldiers.
“If we come out and remember the good things about that individual, it could be part of the healing process,” Holmes said.
The “Wall That Heals” allows for people to memorialize their loved ones close to home, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund website.
“Bringing The Wall home to communities throughout our country allows the souls enshrined on the Memorial to exist once more among family and friends in the peace and comfort of familiar surroundings,” the website reads. “The traveling exhibit provides thousands of veterans who have been unable to cope with the prospect of facing The Wall to find the strength and courage to do so within their own communities, thus allowing the healing process to begin.”
Holmes said nearly 2,000 people had visited the Wall by Friday afternoon, including 500 students. Athens was once the site of campus riots and anti-war protests, but Holmes said attitudes toward soldiers have changed since then.
“I think it’s important that we understand this is history,” Holmes said. ”If you don’t recognize your history, you could repeat it.”
According to a university press release, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in D.C. was designed by Athens native Maya Lin. She studied computer programming at OU while in high school, and both of her parents worked at the university.
Holmes said the wall will visit 38 cities around the country this year and has a goal of 40 in 2018.
