By By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
July 30, 2003
The Vietnam Memorial Moving Wall arrives in Meridian on Aug. 7, and will be on display at Bonita Lakes Mall the week of Aug. 9-15.
The wall, a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., will arrive in town with a police escort. It will be erected in the north parking lot of the mall.
Members of the Mississippi chapter of the Vietnam Veterans Motorcycle Club, based in Holly Springs, also plan to escort the wall into town.
Sponsored by the local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 79, Percy Howland is chairman of the project, which he said has been four years in the making.
The Meridian City Council and Lauderdale County Board of Supervisors split the $3,500 cost of displaying the wall.
Howland said the wall will be available for viewing 24 hours a day. An opening ceremony is scheduled for Aug. 9 at 9 a.m.
Slips of paper and charcoal will be provided for people who want to transfer names of fallen soldiers as keepsakes.
The V-shaped memorial lists the names of men and women of the U.S. armed forces who were killed in Vietnam from 1959-1975 or who remain missing in action.
Anyone interested in volunteering to help man the display and help people understand how to view it can call Howland at 527-8906.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in 1982. The first of two "Moving Walls" that now tour the country went on display in 1984.