Winchester to Host Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall

The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall will be displayed in Winchester this month as the memorial makes its trek across the United States.  Winchester will be the only city in Tennessee to host the wall this year, and residents and visitors will have the opportunity to view the wall at the Citizen Pavilion located at the Winchester City Park from August 14^th to August 18^th. 

              On August 13^th, the day before the wall will be displayed at the park, the sponsors are planning a caravan for the transportation of the wall from Monteagle to Winchester.  The caravan is scheduled to start at the Sam H. Werner Military Museum in Monteagle, departing at 9:00 a.m.  From there, it will travel to Saint Andrews School with an estimated arrival time of 9:15 a.m.  Leaving from Saint Andrews School, the wall will then make a stop at Cowan Elementary School with an estimated arrival time of 9:35 a.m.  The next stop will be at South Middle School, expecting to arrive at approximately 9:45 a.m.  The wall will then take the route to Winchester Christian Academy with an expected arrival time of 9:55 a.m. before heading to Clark Memorial around 10:15 a.m., and then on to the final destination of the City Park at approximately 10:30 a.m. 

              Crews will spend the rest of the caravan day assembling the wall and preparing it for public viewing.  The wall will officially open to the public on August 14^th, with the opening ceremony beginning at 6:00 p.m. 

Picture provided from The City of Winchester's Facebook page.

              The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall is estimated to stand six feet tall at its center and is just over 300 feet long.  It is over half the size of the original Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall located in Washington D.C. and features the names of over 58,000 service members who died or went missing during the Vietnam War. 

              Winchester Mayor Sean Crabtree showed extreme pride and excitement for the city of Winchester and their residents to have the opportunity for this experience. 

              “From my understanding, we are the only city in the state of Tennessee that will be hosting it.”, stated Crabtree.  “I would love to get people to ride in the caravan or line the streets.  I’m hoping it’s going to be a big deal.  And then the opening ceremony is the next day.  It’s going to be really cool.”

              “I wasn’t here when they did it last time.”, continued the mayor.  “I think they did it eight or nine years ago.  But I have been to Arlington, and it was extremely moving.  I’m excited for the community to have the opportunity for this experience.”

              The Memorial Wall will be manned around the clock with volunteers that will be available to check the book and direct visitors to where a particular person is noted on the wall.  The volunteer shifts will be four hours long and those who are interested in volunteering for the mission are asked to reach out to Doug Freund at 815-861-8091.  For those interested in participating in the caravan on August 13^th, they are asked to reach out to Beri Frailey at 256-508-5157.