Traveling Vietnam Wall Already Healing

A traveling display honoring the 58,261 American lives lost or missing in the Vietnam War is now open to the public. An opening ceremony Thursday kicked off the four-day viewing of the “Wall That Heals.“ Among the names listed on the one-half scale version of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall are roughly 250 people who called Southwest Virginia and Northeast Tennessee home.

Three of Kay Miller’s childhood friends from Telford died in Vietnam. All were in their early 20’s.

“It’s sad that so many young people had to lose their lives,“ Miller said after tracking down the names of her three friends.

Vietnam Veteran Henry Boothe of Bristol also lost a friend. Finding Charlie C. Buchanan’s name on the wall was bittersweet.

“It just brings back a lot of good and bad memories,“ Boothe said.

Some, like Vietnam Veteran Jerald Lane of Greeneville, regret they don’t have those memories of their loved ones. He never knew his half-brother Warren Newton.

“I never got to know him and I wished I had of,“ Lane said.

Despite the pain that comes with seeing a friend or loved ones name on the wall, the memorial makes many people smile.

“Every day since he passed away, you don’t forget him,“ Bonnie Lamb of Chuckey said about her son Floyd W. Lamb, Jr. “It feels great to see his name on the wall, but it’s sad too.“

Still, the “Wall That Heals” received its name for a reason. Since losing her husband, Paul A. Dodson, nearly four decades ago, Trudy Dodson of Bluff City has visited the wall several times.

“It still hurts,“ Dodson said of the pain. “It never gets much better, but the wall does help.“

You can visit “Wall That Heals” now through Sunday. It is open around the clock, with the closing ceremony set for 5 p.m. Sunday. The wall is located at the Liberty Bell Track in Johnson City.

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