A 53-foot trailer containing the replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall and the mobile education center will have a motorcycle escort today from Cameron to Chillicothe.
The escort on Highway 36 is scheduled to begin at 1 pm today and is expected to arrive by 1:45 in Chillicothe. An honor parade will proceed north on Washington Street (Highway 65) to Highway 190 before reaching the athletic practice field of Chillicothe High School.
Once assembled, the three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall will be open for public viewing “around the clock” from 2 pm Wednesday afternoon until 2 pm Sunday afternoon. The exhibit also includes a mobile education center.
The replica is constructed of Avonite, a synthetic black granite. 140 numbered panels are supported by an aluminum frame. Machine-engraving of the names, along with LED lighting, provides readability during the day and at night. More than 58,000 names – 1,411 from Missouri, including 7 from Chillicothe – are listed by the day of casualty. According to a website, the traveling exhibit has provided thousands of veterans, unable to visit the wall in Washington D.C., with an opportunity to “gather strength and courage” in their own community to further the “healing” process.
Thus, the exhibit is referred to as “the wall that heals.” The replica is 375 feet in length and stands seven and a half feet at its highest point. Visitors are described as experiencing the wall rising above them as they walk toward the apex – a key feature of the design of the actual Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington. This is the 28th season for the traveling exhibit, and financing comes through the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.
The exhibit leaves Chillicothe on Sunday and travels to Indiana.
