By Staff
“The Wall That Heals” is an appropriate name.
It refers to a half-scale traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. A group of local veterans and others have banded together to bring the memorial to our Washington in April.
The wall commemorates the more than 58,000 men and women who were killed during the 10 years of the Vietnam War.
Vietnam veteran and Washington resident George H. Schryer is heading the effort to bring the wall to Washington at an estimated cost of $10,000. So far, Schryer and his fellow organizers from local veterans groups and community members have raised about $5,000.
It’s money well spent.
Vietnam veterans, of course, fought a particularly controversial war — the battles raging in a faraway land as social upheaval ripped American society at home. Many Vietnam vets returned home after gruesome experiences on and off the battlefields to a country torn apart by the unpopular conflict.
That some of these brave men and women were blamed for what many at home called a failed and ill-advised war was in many cases unfair and untrue. The suffering of many vets didn’t end when they stepped back onto American soil.
It’s little wonder that some were, and are, still bitter about fighting for their country and coming home in many cases to ridicule and criticism.
The Wall That Heals, as with its larger counterpart in the nation’s capital, may help ease those feelings and ensure that their contributions won’t be forgotten.
We’ll look forward to seeing the memorial when it graces our city.
Contributions to The Wall That Heals can be mailed to the city of Washington, P.O. Box 210, Washington, NC, 27889.