By Laura Bilson
For HDMedia
The Moving Wall, a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, arrived in St. Albans at noon on Thursday.
Honoring the original monument, located in Washington, D.C., which opened in 1982, this version has traveled the country since 1984. Like the original, The Moving Wall features the names — etched into 74 black panels — of more 58,000 men and women killed in the Vietnam War. The Moving Wall is 252 feet long.
The free exhibit has traveled to multiple states with the purpose of giving visitors an opportunity to experience the tribute without having to travel to Washington.
The monument in the St. Albans Shopping Center is open to the public through Monday. A ceremony on Saturday will honor Vietnam War veterans. A special award will be presented to VFW Post 6418 in St. Albans, which sponsored the Moving Wall, and which is collecting donations to help defray the cost of providing the display. Many local and national sponsors have pitched in as well.
Etched memories
For some St. Albans residents, the memorial offers them a special connection to the past.
St. Albans resident Henny Franken visited the wall with her son, Dick Curtis Jackson, to find a particular name.
With the help of local VFW chapter member Jimmy Linville, Franken made two etchings of the name William Curtis Williamson, the father of her daughter. Williamson died in Vietnam on March 30, 1969, three days before he was set to return home.
“He never got to hold his daughter,” Franken said. “I was planning my wedding.”
Franken said she has lost most of her memorabilia of Williamson, so she is grateful for the opportunity to have more physical reminders of him.
“I’ll get 100 of these if I can,” she said, adding that having the memorial in St. Albans is “amazing” and “an honor.”
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