LANCASTER — The Wall that Heals, a traveling exhibit and museum honoring men and women who died while serving with the U.S. armed forces in the Vietnam War, will be in Lancaster later this month.
The exhibit is part of a free event honoring veterans planned for 11 a.m. April 30 at the Garrard County Justice Center.
U.S. Congressman Brett Guthrie will speak. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and served as a field artillery officer in the 101st Airborne Division — Air Assault at Fort Campbell.
Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, also will speak. In 1979, Scruggs conceived the idea of building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., as a tribute to all who served during one of the longest wars in American history. Today, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is among the most visited memorials in the nation’s capital. There are more than 58,000 names inscribed on the black granite memorial.
The Wall that Heals is a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, designed to travel to communities throughout the United States.
At the Lancaster event, the Garrard County High School band will play the “Star Spangled Banner” and other patriotic music. Farmers National Bank will provide refreshments following the event inside the justice center.
The Wall that Heals traveling exhibit and museum will be on display in the morning in front of the Garrard County Courthouse. The public can tour it for free.
The 53-foot trailer that carries the exhibit from town to town is a mobile museum. The exterior sides of the trailer open to reveal information cases displaying photos of service members whose names are found on the wall and letters left at the memorial as remembrances.
The information cases also feature memorabilia, which tells the story of the Vietnam War, the wall and the era surrounding the conflict, as well as computers to help locate names on the wall. The museum includes a map of Vietnam and a chronological overview of the conflict in Vietnam. The museum helps many visitors, particularly students, put American experiences in Vietnam in a historical and cultural context.
