SOMERVILLE, MASS. (WHDH) - The City of Somerville held a ceremony Saturday to honor the people who served in America’s armed services, hosting the “The Moving Wall” for the first time.
A Vietnam Veterans Pinning Ceremony took place at 4 p.m. Saturday on the Mass General Brigham Great Lawn at Assembly Row, where the city is currently hosting the Vietnam Veterans memorial.
“The Moving Wall” is the half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which takes a tour around the nation annually for the last 40 years, for those who are not able to make it to the original monument. The wall features thousands of names of people who died in service during the Vietnam War.
“It’s service to our country, service to our people,” Thomas White, a Vietnam Veteran said. “Every Veteran’s Day, it’s kind of emotional. This is actually the first time I’ve seen any Vietnam wall.
“It is a 58,238 people that are on this wall,” White said. “People just can’t forget.”
It’s an emotional site for many.
“The Vietnam Vets, when they were coming home, given that it was an unpopular war, many of them didn’t get the respect and the welcome home that they deserved,” Ted Louis-Jacques, Director of Veterans Services for Somerville, said. “So this is just another opportunity for us to honor the Vietnam Vets in our community, and to show them that we care, and to say really ‘Thank you’ for their service.”
The Wall is open to the public, and the Great Lawn will offer a fully accessible park-like setting with parking and lodging nearby. Volunteers will be onsite to assist visitors 24 hours a day until the Wall leaves Monday.
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