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Vietnam Moving Memorial Wall coming to Manistique

EDITOR:

As you may have heard, the Vietnam Moving Memorial Wall will be visiting Manistique (Aug. 2-6) at the Manistique Marina. The Moving Wall stands as a symbol of America’s honor and recognition of the men and women who served and sacrificed their lives in the Vietnam War.

Inscribed on the black granite walls are the names of more than 58,000 men and women who gave their lives or remain missing. The Memorial Wall is dedicated to honoring the courage, sacrifice, devotion to duty and country of all who answered the call to serve during one of the most divisive wars in U.S. history.

The Memorial Wall lists the names of those killed and missing in action in chronological order to the date of the casualty. The crosses by some names represent those who are missing and unaccounted for, the diamond appears by a name indicated that person listed was killed in action.

The purpose of bringing the Vietnam Moving Memorial Wall to Manistique is to teach, heal, remember, honor and share. Our community of Manistique did us proud the first time the wall was here in 2008. The wall proved to be very meaningful for our area because it provided a source of healing and special recognition for all that served.

Our opening ceremony is slated for Aug. 2 at 6 p.m., on Aug. 3, our “Ride to the Wall” starts at Rodgers Park (U.S. 2) – those who have a motorcycle are asked to join us. The Veterans Parade to follow (meet at Manistique High School) starting at 6:15 p.m. All veterans from the region are requested to join us, as we march (or ride a motorcycle) to the Wall for our “Welcome Home Ceremony.” Rides will be provided for disabled veterans.

On Saturday (Aug 4), our federal/state/local elected officials will be here in Manistique to speak, on Sunday (Aug 5) the Manistique Ministerial Association will have a service at the Wall starting at 1 p.m. Starting at 5 p.m. (Aug 5) that day, we will be reading the names of our fallen Upper Peninsula Vietnam Veterans as inscribed on the Wall.

On Monday – (12:00 noon), Aug. 6 we will have our closing ceremony, the reading of the names of all Michigan POW/MIA’s, and our closing message. We owe a great thank you to our businesses and our community who helped us raise funds to bring the Memorial Wall here. Volunteers are still needed to help with security, set up/tear down, also we need disposable utensils/plates, and baked goods/food items are needed to help feed our many awesome volunteers who are volunteering at that “Wall that Heals”. You can find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/VietnamMemorialWallMSTQ — our contact number is (906) 450-0321.

Paul Walker

Wall Coordinator

Manistique

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