Town Advances Plans for Vietnam Veterans' Moving Wall

This Patriots’ Day Arlington residents will be able to commemorate local history with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in town. The Moving Wall, a half-size replica of the Washington D.C. memorial, has been traveling around the United States for more than 20 years. This April the mobile monument is. 

At Monday night’s meeting the announced the official dates for the Moving Wall's stay in Arlington and discussed preparations for the monument. The Moving Wall will be open from 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 14 until the morning of Monday, April 19, and will be available for viewing for 24 hours a day. Tentative plans include a ceremony on Saturday, April 16 and a visit from a Black Hawk helicopter. 

Volunteers will also be on hand to help visitors locate the names of family members and friends inscribed on the wall. The Moving Wall contains all 58,267 names on the Washington, D.C., memorial, including the eight from Arlington.

After submitting a bid to host the memorial more than a year ago, Arlington beat out a number of towns in the competitive application process to host the wall for Patriots’ Day.  

“This bodes well for the town that we were selected to host this,” Town Manager Brian Sullivan said. “It’s not easy to get for Patriots' Day weekend. It will be a nice feature in our Patriots’ Day celebration.”

A 14-member committee composted of local veterans, family members and supporters, is overseeing the historic endeavor. The committee is in the process of raising the $20,000 necessary to bring the Moving Wall to Arlington, as well as coordinating landscaping and construction efforts at the memorial’s site behind . The town is working to create walkways and build a large platform in order to accommodate the large crowd expected throughout the weekend.

Sullivan reported the memorial will require a full day of set-up once it arrives on April 15. He encouraged residents to volunteer their time throughout the weekend, especially during the overnight hours. Many area high school students have already signed on to help, but must clock out by 9 p.m. each night.   

“There will be more opportunities to come as we start putting plans together,” Sullivan said. “We want to make sure we have activities going on, but also maintain the solemn atmosphere around the memorial.”

The Board of Selectmen provide additional updates on the project at the next meeting on March 14. 

For more information on the Moving Wall and to find out how you can be involved. see the town’s website. 

Those interested in donating to the project can make tax-deductible contributions here or by sending a check made out to “Town of Arlington/Moving Wall” to:

Town of Arlington/Moving Wall 730 Massachusetts Ave. Arlington, MA 02476