A traveling memorial to the U.S. soldiers who died in the Vietnam War will be making its first visit to Hawaii in January.
“The Wall That Heals” is a three-quarter-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., that has traveled around the country and been exhibited in more than 700 communities since 1996, said Vietnam veteran Michael Doolittle, board chair of Hawaii Island Veterans Memorial.
Doolittle and several others made a presentation Tuesday to the Hawaii County Council’s Communications, Reports and Council Oversight Committee about the replica wall, which will be erected on a soccer field at Russell Caroll Mo‘oheau County Park, where it will remain from Jan. 22 to Jan. 28.
The wall is a project of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund. By traveling around the country and being exhibited in various communities, the replica exists to allow veterans and their families a chance to remember the fallen in the comfort of a familiar place.
Doolittle said the memorial wall is the only persistent symbol that Vietnam veterans have.
While veterans of other wars, such as World War II, are remembered through epochal events such as the Normandy landings or the Battle of Iwo Jima, the events of the Vietnam War are not remembered in such a way, and the most notable memorial of that war is thousands of miles away.
“Most veterans haven’t seen the wall in D.C.,” Doolittle said. “It’s too far away, it’s too expensive to go there. That’s what this wall is here for.”
Doolittle said that while the replica has traveled even to places like Ireland and Canada, it has not traveled to Hawaii, despite the state’s popularity as an R&R destination among soldiers serving in Vietnam.
The wall consists of 140 synthetic granite panels arranged on an aluminum frame and lit by LED lighting.
Like the actual memorial wall in D.C., it has two wall segments that meet at an obtuse angle, with the vertex marking the wall’s highest point — for the replica, that highest point is 7.5 feet. When fully assembled, the replica wall is 375 feet long.
Veteran Tom Wojszynski told the committee Tuesday the assembly of the wall will begin with an escort around Hilo. The trailer carrying the disassembled wall will first be taken to the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium before being led around town by a motorcycle escort.
The circuit of town will take the trailer down Kanoelehua Avenue to Puainako Street, Komohana Street, Mohouli Street, Kaumana Street and then from there down to Waianuenue Avenue and the Bayfront.
Wojszynski said the route was specifically chosen to pass by several Hilo schools, which was a request made by Mayor Mitch Roth.
Wojszynski said the convoy is expected to have anywhere between 150 and 300 riders traveling at between 8 mph and 12 mph, and acknowledged that this likely will impact area traffic temporarily.
After the wall completes its circuit, volunteers will begin assembling the memorial on Jan. 23. Wojszynski said family members or friends of a veteran listed on the wall can have the honor of affixing the panel bearing said veteran’s name to the wall.
Following that, from the Jan. 24 through Jan. 28, the wall will be open for public viewing, and a mobile education center will be open each day between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. Visitors also can sign up for guided tours.
More information, including links to volunteer for the wall or the motorcycle escort, can be found at thewallthatheals-hawaiicounty.org.
Email Michael Brestovansky at mbrestovansky@hawaiitribune-herald.com.