By Eileen Buckley
Kenmore, NY – Opening ceremonies will be held Thursday night in Kenmore for the Vietnam Wall Experience.
The traveling memorial arrived earlier this week. Wednesday more than 30 union construction workers gathered at Mang Park off Elmwood Avenue to construct the exhibit.
Gary Hooper helped construction workers assemble the wall for display. He drives the large semi-truck that carries the traveling wall.
It is a copy of the Vietnam memorial in Washington. There are 58,000 names on the Wall, including the names of 518 Western New Yorkers who died in Vietnam.
Jim Riedy, a local retired Ironworker and other Building trades members, were there to help construct the wall. Riedy fought in Vietnam and had tears in his eyes knowing that the exhibit is a tribute to his war buddies who died.
"I'm back with a lot of my old friends because I have never been to the Wall in Washington. It was kind of a forgotten war," said Riedy. "People that were there saw a whole different story. We were there to free people and I think that is want the U-S is about, a free country. I would probably do it again today. I'm not a war monger, but I do know that war is necessary sometimes."
The traveling wall is owned by Dignity Memorial Funeral home, which operates the Dengler and Roberts Funeral Home in this region.
Beth Gerrish is the local wall coordinator. Gerrish said they began planning the arrival nine months ago. She said crowds that gathered for its initially arrival on Tuesday night in Kenmore gave her "goose bumps."
"Not one person that we have approached in nine months has said no to us. You look at Western New York, Buffalo and all the Vietnam vets and it is a humbling experience," said Gerrish.
As the traveling Wall criss-crosses the country, it makes about 18-stops a year. But when the Wall leaves Kenmore, a permanent stone exhibit with a time capsule will be created in honor of the vets.
The Vietnam Wall Experience will be on display at Mang Park in Kenmore starting Thursday night through this Sunday.