Traveling Vietnam memorial in Berks will honor veterans who died after the war

When a traveling Vietnam War monument stops in Berks County this year, it will also honor Pennsylvania Vietnam veterans who have died since the conflict ended.

The Wall That Heals, a mobile three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will be on display at the Timothy Breidegam Baseball Field in Kutztown Park from Sept. 21 to 24.

It honors the more than 3 million Americans who served in the U.S. armed forces in the Vietnam War and bears the names of the 58,281 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice during that conflict, according to organizers.

While the wall is in place in Kutztown, it will be accompanied by a video screen for the In Memory program, which will display the names, photos and hometowns of deceased Pennsylvania veterans of the war, regardless of whether their deaths were service connected.

The idea is to give those veterans the appreciation and respect that so many did not receive when they returned home from the war, organizers said.

Those who want to have a loved one’s name included in the In Memory program while the wall is in Kutztown need to apply by Aug. 21, a month before the wall arrives.

They can apply either online or by mail.

The online application for the In Memory program is available at vvmf.org/inmemory-apply/.

Those wishing to apply by mail can find a printable application by clicking on the yellow link on the webpage.

The Wall That Heals is a program of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the nonprofit organization that built the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982.

Since its debut in 1996, the mobile exhibit has been on display in more than 700 U.S. communities in addition to an April 1999 tour of the four provinces of Ireland and a visit to Canada in 2005.

The exhibit is transported from community to community in a 53-foot trailer. When parked, the trailer opens with exhibits built into its sides, allowing it to serve as a mobile education center to tell the story of the Vietnam War, the wall and a divisive era in American history.

Free to the public, the exhibit is open 24 hours a day.

To learn more about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, visit www.vvmf.org or call 202-393-0090. For more information about The Wall That Heals, visit thewallthatheals.org.

Source: Berkshire mont