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The Wall That Heals, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will bring the names and photographs of local service members to Alexandria for four days of public remembrance.
The exhibit will stand on the grounds of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial from June 12 through June 15. Admission is free, and the site will remain open around the clock.
The three-quarter-scale replica bears the names of 58,281 men and women who died in Vietnam. It honors the more than 3 million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the Vietnam War.
Organizers expect thousands of relatives and friends of Vietnam veterans to visit. The Alexandria location is also providing a setting for annual commemorations displaced by street and National Mall closures surrounding the June 14 military parade in Washington, D.C.
A mobile Education Center will present videos about the war, the memorial’s design competition and the construction of The Wall. Displays will include items carried by soldiers and a motorcycle connected to an Alexandria service member who served in Vietnam.
Photographs will recognize the 68 Alexandria “Hometown Heroes” whose names appear on The Wall. The exhibit will also feature service members from Arlington and Fairfax counties and Washington, D.C.
Visitors may make rubbings of individual names from the replica, which will be installed on the grassy knoll overlooking the Masonic memorial.
Four days of remembrance
The exhibit will open at 2 p.m. Thursday, June 12. That evening, an Agent Orange Awareness event will illuminate the replica Wall and its In Memory plaque with orange candlelight, drawing attention to the effects of Agent Orange exposure on Vietnam veterans.
On Saturday, June 14, the annual In Memory ceremony will honor a record 774 veterans who returned from Vietnam but later died.
The Father’s Day Rose Remembrance will take place Sunday, June 15. Visitors may sponsor roses in advance and place them at the Wall and In Memory plaque. Red roses will represent those who died in Vietnam, yellow roses those who remain unaccounted for and white roses those who returned home but later died. The observance will also remember service members who never had the opportunity to become fathers.
The exhibit will close at 9 p.m. Sunday.
USAA is serving as presenting sponsor of the national tour for the 11th year. Local organizers are also seeking volunteers and financial or in-kind assistance from area businesses and organizations.