The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall arrives in Parkersburg

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) - The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall arrived in Parkersburg on Wednesday. It was driven to the park in a procession led by local police departments, fire departments, and the Patriot Riders.

Now it sits in a trailer, waiting to be unpacked the morning of September 14th.

WTAP has more on the memorial and what it means to the community.

The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall is a display that makes stops across the country.

Bill Shepherd, a Vietnam veteran who arranged the wall’s visit, said, “The names of everybody that was killed in Vietnam is on there, including eight women nurses.”

It stands eight feet tall and is 360 feet long.

“It’s an impressive wall. It’s 80% the size of the wall in Washington D.C.”

For Shepherd, it’s personal.

“I have friends on the wall that died in Vietnam. I have friends on the wall that died after I left Vietnam,” he said.

Shepherd said veterans were disrespected when they got back from Vietnam.

“This shows these people and their family some respect. It’s what they deserve,” he said.

If you are looking for a loved one’s name, there will be people there from 8am to 5pm to help you find it.

“They’ll tell you what panel to go to, what line, and how many names over,” Shepherd explained.

The memorial will be open 24 hours each day until noon on Sunday. There will be lighting set up so it’s visible at night.

The memorial will be set up on Thursday September 14th. The opening ceremony will be at noon.

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