Tales from the Road

Since last I wrote, The Wall That Heals made it to the city where "if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere, New York, New York," where we celebrated Veterans Day in the middle of Bryant Park. Big cities are always a decided contrast to our small town visits, of course, and the backdrop was very different from many of our usual sites. But veterans are veterans, and we are always glad to travel to places where people need us.

After the Big Apple, we had the privilege of spending Thanksgiving week in Statesville, NC, where the Wall was visited by thousands of people and heartwarming stories of healing continue to happen on a daily basis.

Our visit started with an escort into town by 100 plus motorcycles, city police, sheriff, and various other vehicles for the '50-mile trip into town. The streets were blocked for our trip through town with officers standing at attention and saluting as the Wall passed by I'm here to let you know it was very moving. (I always keep tissues on the seat of the truck for just these occasions.) As we neared the site where the Wall was to be set up, the streets were lined with the townspeople waving and watching the procession. Keep in mind this was a Monday and there were at least 150 people on hand for the setup, so the only problem John and I encountered was keeping up with all the volunteers. Setup went quickly, which was a good thing, because we had visitors waiting to see the Wall and wanting to find that special name.

The next two days the Wall was visited by hundreds of school children learning about the Vietnam War from those who were there! I can't begin to tell you how good it makes me feel to see veterans talking to the children with their heads held high and pride in their voices. Some of these veterans have not talked about Vietnam since returning home. We hope the dialogue will continue after we leave, we suggest that all the items left at the Wall be put into an exhibit and shown to the local schools by veterans groups. This way the kids get a chance to hear what really happened and the Vietnam veteran gets a chance to talk about his time in-country, and that is how the healing begins.

Thanksgiving day, lots of families, dressed in their finest, took time out from the festivities to come by and pay their respects to those who will not be sitting down to dinner and to those who will miss them! John and I were invited to spend Thanksgiving dinner with a family who was gracious enough to ask us to their home. Since we couldn't be home with our family, this was certainly the next best thing. I can tell you all I was not looking forward to Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant. We had a wonderful dinner with great conversation and great folks, and in spite of all the trimmings, we managed to waddle back to the site.

One lady who came by several times to visit finally told one of the volunteers she had been engaged to one of the boys on the Wall. She had continued on with her life but felt things were not finished-she had always wanted to get in touch his family but had put it off until she had lost touch and didn't know how to find them. At the ceremony she finally got her chance to talk to the family, since families of the local boys were present, so The Wall That Heals visit has again helped another survivor close out a chapter of her life, so she can begin anew. Well, it's time to move on to the next town and to say goodbye to the new friends we have made. We had a wonderful time here; we saw a community pull together, and lots of healing take place. Now it's on to new adventures, see you on The Road.

John and I hope everyone had a Happy and Safe Holiday.