Tears slowly ran down the cheeks of Vietnam veteran Wayne Laird as he stood still Thursday and saw, for the first time, the Wall that Heals.
The Hattiesburg resident described the scene at Bluff Street Park as overwhelming.
“Lord, this is something. All these guys lost their lives,” he said as the emotions rose to the surface.
Laird had dropped out of high school in New Orleans and went to join the Navy; four days later he received his draft card into the Army. He called them up and was told he belonged to the Navy.
“Had I not done that …,” he said Thursday, pausing as more tears rolled down his cheek.
Laird said he had no idea he would feel like he did when he came. He described everything he saw on Thursday as very touching.
It was a signal that for some Vietnam veterans, healing had begun as a result of the wall’s visit.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. is 493 feet long and 10 feet tall at the apex. The Wall that Heals is an exact replica scaled down to three-quarters size, or 375 feet long and 7.5 feet at the highest point, that travels throughout the country. This is its first visit to Mississippi.
The monument rolled into Columbia Tuesday in what would best be described as a hero’s welcome. A procession began in Hattiesburg, traveled through Sumrall, back to U.S. 98, into Columbia down Broad Street and around the courthouse to its final destination at the park overlooking the Pearl River. The escort featured firetrucks, multiple law enforcement vehicles, motorcycles and other vehicles to crowds lined up along the way with American flags being waved as the Wall passed by.
After being set up Wednesday, the wall opened to the public Thursday and will remain open 24 hours a day through 2 p.m. Sunday.
Julianna Blaylock is the outreach manager with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which is over the Wall in Washington and the Wall that Heals. She said there are eight people that work with the fund and they rotate two people at each site. She has been involved for two and half years.
“I couldn’t ask for a better job. It is so rewarding,” Blaylock said.
Their job is to lead the volunteers with the set-up and take-down. They also lead the tours and discuss the Wall with the visitors during the entire time the Wall is displayed.
All day Thursday visitors and students from area schools visited the Wall and educational center. Carlton Thornhill, one of the organizers of the wall visit, said Thursday that the response was overwhelming. More than 1,500 students toured it on the first day, and people came from as far as Mozelle.
There were displays of items that were once placed at the Wall in Washington. More than 400,000 items have been placed at the Wall since its dedication in 1982.
Blaylock said her favorite part of the educational center is the timeline. In the time of the Vietnam War there were three assassinations, the civil rights movement and even landing on the moon while the soldiers were off fighting in Southeast Asia.
“It was such a crazy time in history,” she said.
Vietnam veteran Dick Bounds of Hattiesburg was searching on the Wall for names of his comrades Thursday. He said he could remember the full name of nine of them, but he knows there are at least 20-30 more names of soldiers he knew.
“I went to the one in Washington, and I broke down there. I’m handling it a little bit better here,” Bounds said.
Bounds said he felt like the Wall helps with the healing because when a lot of the soldiers came home were spit upon and no one appreciated them. He said the Wall helps a lot. He was on Mississippi 589 when the procession pulled through and he saluted the truck as it passed him. Bounds said he felt like the hero’s welcome of the procession also played a part in the healing.
Veteran Tom Hildebrandt of Louisiana served during the time of Vietnam in submarines for eight and a half months. He and his wife, who is also a veteran, drove their RV to Columbia and plan on staying until the Wall leaves Sunday and volunteering. He describes the Wall as “magic” with its healing.
“People can reach out and touch a name, a comrade or family; it is very emotional,” he said of the Wall.
He said soldiers were treated so badly when they came home. They were spit on, yelled at and cursed at, and he said he knows a lot are still suffering. One of the reasons why he volunteers is because he wants to see them heal.
Tommy Mullins, a Vietnam veteran from Columbia, said he believed the Wall provided closure for many people.
Two-time Purple Heart recipient Austin Randall said, “I love it I believe everyone should see it.”
At the educational center there are two screens side-by-side. One shows the names and pictures of hometown heroes and the other shows struggles the veterans have dealt with since coming home like sickness from Agent Orange.
The hometown heroes’ screen is a project the organization has volunteers working on, providing a picture for every name on the Wall. As of Wednesday morning they were 375 short of having all 58,276. Blaylock said it is important that each name has a face because the name of the person on the Wall is someone’s loved one.
Blaylock said the Wall brings healing because a lot of the soldiers never got properly welcomed home. Bringing the Wall allows the soldiers to receive what they had not been able to receive before and the fact is it right there at their own front door makes it better for them she said.
Blaylock said she loved the site of Bluff Street Park with the river behind it.
The crowds, students and all the visitors and volunteers let the Vietnam soldiers know they have not been forgotten and still matter, she said. n
