Homage to heroes

Collierville recently had the honor to host the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall from Oct. 17-21 at Central Church on E. Winchester Blvd.
The traveling memorial “stands as a reminder of the great sacrifices made during the Vietnam War.”
“It was made for the purpose of helping heal and rekindle friendships and to allow people the opportunity to visit loved ones in their home town who otherwise may not be able to make the trip to Washington.”
The wall is a three-fifth scale, chevron-shaped replica of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. and stands six feet tall at the center. It covers nearly 300 feet from end-to-end. As of 2011, there are 58,307 names listed on the polished black wall, just as it is in Washington, D.C.
The names are arranged in the order that the soldiers perished. More than 33,000 of the soldiers who died were 18 years old. Nearly 1,000 were killed on their first day of duty in Vietnam.
Near the wall, a black placard read, “For most Americans who read this, they will only see the numbers that the Vietnam War created. To those of us that survived the war, and to the families of those who did not, we see the faces, we feel the pain that these numbers created, we are, until we too pass away, haunted with these numbers, because they were our friends, fathers, husbands, wives, sons and daughters. There are no noble wars, just noble warriors.”
Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 5066 hosted fundraisers while the wall was in town to further renovation efforts to the Post. Members of the VFW served burgers, hot dogs and chili to raise money for the Post.
The wall is now headed to Shreveport, La.