It was solemn and quiet as people walked along the Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall.
The wall, located at Western Wyoming Community College’s Rock Springs campus for four days, was heavily visited.
During those visits, some stood in awe of the wall, while others searched for names of loved ones lost to the Vietnam War.
Tony Blair, American Legion Post 24 member, lifetime member of the VFW Post 2321 and event organizer, said people came for various reasons. Some, were seeking closure.
According to a brochure handed out at the WWCC, the Moving Wall, which is a half-size replica of the Washington, D.C., Vietnam Veterans Memorial has been touring the country for the past 30 years.
The brochure also states, that as of 2014 the wall has 58,299 names listed on the memorial and about 1,300 of these names are still unaccounted Prisoner’s of War or Missing in Action.
Blair said currently six companies have replicas of the wall; and these travel all over the country. The wall that was here four days last week; and it came from Kansas and is now on its way to California. This particular wall is based out of Michigan, he said. In March it leaves Michigan and in October it returns, during this time the wall travels around the United States.
Blair, who volunteered for other towns and cities in Wyoming that had the wall visit said he thought it would be great for it to come here so this community could have a chance to see it. He volunteered at Lander, Gillette, Casper and Fort Bridger. He pitched his idea to Post 24; and they agreed it was important for this community.
“It’s a community project. We’ve never had it in Sweetwater County,” Blair said. “If Fort Bridger, a town of 2,700 people can, then Sweetwater County can. We aren’t going to be outdone by Fort Bridger.”
The total cost of having the wall come to Sweetwater County was about $15,000; and Blair felt it was worth it.
Some of those people just needed time to reflect and others needed closure. He recalled one visitor who was looking up the names of 41 people he knew that were killed in the Vietnam War. It was just overwhelming. Over the four days, 10,000 to 15,000 people took in the wall. Some decided to visit the wall during the early hours of the morning when there were not many other people around. Blair said the wall was open 24 hours a day, which allowed for people to visit it even at 2 or 3 a.m., which did happen more than one would think.
“It was a big success,” he said.
Blair wanted to give credit on such a big success to the Wyoming Department of Transportation for displaying Memorial Wall information on their signs on Interstate 80. He also wanted to thank the folks at WWCC. Not only did they display banner about the event, they provided the group with everything they needed. We also wanted to thank the volunteers and support from the American Legion Post 24 and Post 28 and VFW Post 2321. With the help of numerous volunteers, visitors could obtain the information they needed from volunteers or visit the tent. Volunteers in the tent could tell visitors exactly where to find the name they were looking for.
Due to the visibility on Interstate 80, a lot of those traveling on Interstate 80 pulled off to see the Memorial Wall. Blair said not only were there people from all over the country who stopped, but he even talked to some people from Guam and Germany.
“The location was ideal for this project,” Blair said.
Those who were unable to see the wall this time around may only need to wait another four years for it to return. Blair said he is already looking into booking the wall four years from now. One change he would like to make is having the wall open during the school year so schools could bring students to it.
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