Traveling Vietnam Wall Making A Stop In Manchester

MANCHESTER, CT — A replica of the Vietnam Wall will be coming to Manchester in September and will be in town for nearly a week.

The Wall That Heals exhibit features a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The replica is 375 feet in length and stands 7.5 feet high at its tallest point. Visitors can experience The Wall That Heals rising above them as they walk towards the apex, a key feature of the design of the memorial in the nation's capital.

The Wall That Heals will be placed near the water department facilities at Charter Oak Park. An opening ceremony is scheduled for Sept. 19 at 11 a.m. and a closing ceremony is slated for Sept. 22 and 1 p.m. It will be open 24 hours during the time period.

The Wall That Heals will arrive by a huge trailer with an escort of about 150 motorcycles beginning on Interstate 91 in Enfield and finishing in Manchester.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is bringing the replica monument to 30 cities in a nationwide tour this year with an anticipated visitor total of 300,000. Locally, the event is being hosted by Manchester-based Elks Loge 1893 and sponsored by the town.

The event committee is estimating about 30,000 visitors in Manchester.

A total of 14 Manchester residents died in the Vietnam War.

Like the original memorial, The Wall That Heals is erected in a chevron-shape and visitors can make name rubbings of individual service members on the wall. The replica is constructed of Avonite, a synthetic granite, and its 140 numbered panels are supported by an aluminum frame. Machine engraving of the more than 58,000 names along with modern LED lighting provide readability of The Wall That Heals day and night.

As on The Vietnam Wall, the names on The Wall That Heals are listed by day of casualty. Beginning at the center/apex, the names start on the East Wall (right-hand side) working their way out to the end of that wing, picking up again at the far end of the West Wall (left-hand side) and working their way back in to the center/apex, joining the beginning and end of the conflict at the center.

This is not just about the 14 men who died in the war, but also their families, whether it's a memory of them not coming back or dying later from something like Agent Orange. The Wall That Heals is designed to do just that — give the families a place to go that is just like Washington.

See more about The Wall That Heals here.

Manchester has a permanent Vietnam memorial at the top of Center Street.