The Moving Wall is a half size portable replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, located in Washington DC and portable Moving Wall is in HONOR all of the members of the U.S Armed Forces who served in the Vietnam War. The names of those who gave their lives and of those who remain missing are inscribed on the wall, in the order that they died or were reported as missing.
There are two Moving Walls that have been traveling across the country from March to November since 1984. The panels of the wall are made of aluminum and painted black to look like the black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It is a lot thinner than the Vietnam Veterans Memorial but a very good replica. It has silk-screened names which look like the engravings of all of the names of the US Armed Forces of the Vietnam War who gave their lives or remain missing.
The Moving Wall came to Middleboro on Thursday, May 29, 2008 and will remain until Monday, June 2, 2008. It is temporarily located at Battis Field, part of the Pierce Playground which is located behind the Middleboro Police Station and off Jackson Street. I had the opportunity to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in June of 2007 when I went to Washington DC and today I went to visit the Moving Wall in Middleboro to Honor our serviceman who died or are still missing in the war. It deeply saddens me to see all the names of the soldiers who lost their lives in this war. If you would like to learn more about the history of The Moving Wall or see when it will be in your area, you can click on the link above.
My dad told me to look for the names of some of his friends who died in the Vietnam war. He was in college during the time of the Vietnam War and had a draft number but he was never called to serve because the war ended before his draft number was called. He’s told me that the Vietnam War was very controversial and there were many protests against that war. I don’t like wars and can’t understand why we can’t just work out our differences. I feel so sad that so many good men died in wars of the past and are still dying in wars of the present.
As for wheelchair accessibility at the location of the Moving Wall, there is a handicap parking lot located right at the base of the field. There are many people in golf carts who offer to take the disabled around the field to view the wall and sign the guess book. I’m not able to get into a golf cart so my friends helped me wheel around the field and the wall.
There is a nice red carpet along the wall that was easy to maneuver my wheelchair around. There were many letters, signs and other articles left by loved ones on the carpet under some of the names on the Moving Wall. A man told me that all the articles left at every site are being collected and stored in a warehouse until a museum in Washington DC is built that they can be displayed in. There is loud speaker in which a man calls out the names of those who died in the Vietnam War. There are also pamphlets which list all of the names and a small biography of our veterans from our Middleboro area who gave their lives in the Vietnam War. The title on the front page of the pamphlet read: “All gave some — and some, gave All”.
There were many school children there today with their teachers and they were all sitting on the grass in different groups with a man telling them them of the history of the Vietnam War. I would have loved to join in to listen and learn more about the Vietnam War but didn’t want to intrude.
The field is well maintained and easy to maneuver a wheelchair around. There is tent with a guest/message book at one end of the field that everyone can sign. They can also leave a message. My mom, my friends and I all signed it today. My friend Kevin told me that he wrote ” God Bless America”.
I think everyone in the Middleboro area would benefit from seeing The Moving Wall. It really moved me today.
My thoughts tonight are:
“God Bless Our Soldiers – Past and Present”
“Hope One Day Our World Is Full Of Peace”