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Traveling Vietnam Wall to arrive in Parkersburg on Sept. 26

Photo Provided The Traveling Vietnam Wall will be arriving in Parkersburg on Sept. 26. Part of the 360-foot-long wall is shown here.

PARKERSBURG — The Traveling Vietnam Wall will come to Parkersburg City Park on Sept. 26.

People are welcome to go to Interstate 77, Fairplain Exit 132 in Jackson County to form and follow the Wall to Parkersburg starting at noon. It will be forming at Love’s Gas Station in Ripley and leave there at 3 p.m..

The Wall is scheduled to arrive at Parkersburg City Park at approximately 5 p.m.

The American Veterans Traveling Tribute is arriving from Texas. The 360-foot-long Wall has the names of 58,479 American service men and women on it.

There will be flags at the Mid-Ohio Valley Veterans Museum on Seventh Street in Parkersburg and at City Park for those who want to welcome the Traveling Wall as it travels along Seventh Street on its way to Plum Street, where it will turn right and go to Washington Avenue. The Wall will then proceed to City Park.

The Wall will go to the paved road that runs parallel to the first base line of the Bennett Stump Ball Field. It will be welcomed there.

The Grand Opening will be at noon Sept. 27. The Opening Ceremonies will be at 6 p.m. with Master of Ceremonies James McCormick, a Silver Star and Purple Heart recipient. He is a retired Army captain who assists Veterans For Agriculture.

The keynote speaker of the evening will be Hershel “Woody” Williams, USMC CWO4 (retired), a Medal of Honor recipient for his actions on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II.

The Hershel “Woody” Williams MOH Foundation works continuously for Gold Star Families. Williams has assisted the cities of Vienna and Marietta in the completion of Gold Star Family Memorial Monuments. At 94 years old, Williams stays active with speaking engagements around the country.

The Wall will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Sept. 27 and from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sept. 28 and 29. On Sunday, Sept. 30 the Wall will be open from 8 a.m. until noon. Also on Sunday, which is National Gold Star Family Day, Chaplain Major Joe Ward will conduct a church service in memory of those on the Wall and Gold Star Families. Everyone is welcome.

There will be a Luminaria for Fallen Vietnam Heroes from Wood, Washington and other counties in West Virginia and Ohio. If you would like to honor a Fallen Vietnam Hero call Debbie Schreckengost at 304-482-1299. She will need the following information: name, date of service, branch of service and rank. Have this information when you call, the Wall Committee said.

The luminarias will be lit the nights of Sept. 27-29.

The committee is looking for volunteers to work as locators. The locators’ duty requires some computer skill. When people want to locate a friend or family member, the locator will enter the name and provide the panel number and row number. Interested persons should call Patsy Greiner at 1-304-295-8844.

Donations are always needed and welcome, said Bill Shepherd, chairman of the Vietnam Wall Committee. Any West Virginia Federal Credit Union will accept donations for the Wall in the Special Project Account, said Shepherd, who can be contacted at 304-480-1067.

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