Smaller version of D.C. memorial evokes no less emotion

Veterans hope the wall brings an understanding of the cost of freedom.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
SALEM -- Some veterans call it "The Healing Wall."
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., a swath of black stone in the earth, is inscribed with the names of the more than 58,000 Americans killed in the Vietnam War.
Members of area veterans groups hope the smaller version of the memorial, known as The Moving Wall, brings with it healing and an understanding of the cost of freedom. The Moving Wall is at Waterworth Memorial Park through Thursday.
Phil Kinsey is a Vietnam veteran and minister who operates a chapter of Point Man Ministries, and LZ Refuge community center in Washingtonville. He said the Vietnam memorial can educate a generation too young to remember the war, and is definitely a tool for healing the emotional scars of that war.
"If you're a vet, it does bring back memories, things you don't want to think about," he said. "If you go there and cry, you need to do that. It's especially healing if your family is there with you. Then they might understand, and know a little more about you."
AMVETS 45 of Salem has been planning for several years to bring the traveling memorial to Salem, and worked diligently the past few weeks to prepare the site near the park's band shell. The park is accessible from Eighth Street, Superior Avenue and Sunset Boulevard.
Rolling Thunder support
About 30 members of Rolling Thunder No. 4 escorted the memorial to Salem on Thursday afternoon. Police are volunteering off-duty hours to provide 24-hour security.
"Freedom isn't free," and "The healing process will come, but we will never forget," were some of the phrases on shirts worn by veterans who helped set the wall in place.
Bruce Kidd of Sharon, Pa., rode in with Rolling Thunder to bring the memorial to Salem. He said Rolling Thunder's purpose is to serve veterans and support veterans causes such as accounting for all Americans missing in action from all wars.
Now 56, Kidd was 18 when he was "in country" -- the phrase veterans use for their time in Vietnam -- as a radio operator with the Army's 101st Airborne in 1965 and 1966.
He made four trips to Washington, D.C., before he could emotionally tackle a visit to the wall. When he finally did, it was at 2 a.m. He hasn't looked at it since.
"I love Rolling Thunder, and I will do anything for veterans," he said. "The one thing I can't do is look at that wall."
Trip to Washington wall
Kidd rode with Rolling Thunder on a Memorial Day trip to Washington, D.C, and was there with 350,000 other Vietnam veterans on motorcycles. Each Memorial Day weekend, Rolling Thunder members ride from the Pentagon to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
"As I rode down Constitution Avenue, I felt proud for the first time since I came home from 'Nam," he said. "We still ask 'Why?', but we know it's because our country sent us there with a job to do and we did it," he said. "Why did the American people treat us the way they did? That's my question."
"The wall being here is a good thing," said Butch Hardy. "It's good to sit and think -- but not too much."
Hardy, 55, of Salem, was a Navy corpsman (medic) in Vietnam from November 1967 to November 1968, in combat with India Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines.
"I've been to the wall twice, and it's hard to look at," he said. "They say every time you go, it's supposed to get easier, but it doesn't. Those guys were 18, 19, 20 years old, in country for 30 days, or six weeks, and went home in body bags. That's not something you forget. It stays with you forever.
"There are too many names on that wall I know," Hardy said softly, "a lot of people I couldn't do enough for -- too many I couldn't save."
tullis@vindy.com