Naperville’s replica of the Vietnam Wall of Remembrance is up and ready at its new home at the Riverwalk Grand Pavilion for the opening day ceremony planned for Thursday at 10 a.m.
The previous Vietnam replica wall
A replica of the Vietnam Wall last appeared in Naperville alongside the Healing Field of Honor in 2015.
“[A] couple of us got together and thought, well maybe this is a good time to take a look at that again because this is our 50th anniversary of our official departure from Vietnam,” said Wayne Fischer, life member of American Legion Post 43 and Judd Kendall VFW Post 3873.
Constructing Naperville’s Vietnam Wall of Remembrance
As the 2015 wall had seen some wear and tear, a new one was constructed. Blooming Color provided the printed panels and 84 Lumber, the materials.
The construction was led by two members from Naperville Responds for Veterans (NRFV) and two from the Naperville Park District, with the occasional help of other volunteers.
In under two weeks, the group turned raw materials into a 233-foot-long wall with the names of over 58,000 service members who died during the Vietnam War, including 11 from Naperville.
Honoring armed service members in Naperville
“Let’s share with the Naperville community the commitment that these 11 men made and their families made to wartime effort,” said Fischer.
Those 11 are honored with special plaques, which along with the wall, will be up from Nov. 9 through Nov. 13. Besides the opening day ceremony, there will also be a Veterans Day Ceremony held at the wall on Nov. 11.
“I think it’s important that the people here in Naperville know this, and what’s going on and understand why we’re doing it, and we’ll keep doing it as long as we’re around,” said Fischer.
The opening day ceremony will be streamed live by NCTV17 both on our channel and online on Thursday. The Veterans Day ceremony will be covered by NCTV17 on Facebook live, and will be available to view shortly after the event on our website.
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