Thursday, July 28, 2011

Wind knocked down Vietnam traveling wall, community raised it again



Community rallies to patch up veterans' wall
Storm damages display in Ohio
Written by
R. NORMAN MOODY
FLORIDA TODAY

Slammed to the ground by a powerful storm, the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall will need some touch-up work after it returns home to Brevard County later this week.

The community rallied in the small Ohio town where the nearly 300-foot-long wall was knocked down by sudden and powerful winds. It was patched up for a festival within three hours of the fast-moving storm.

"The whole town came out," said Greg Welsh, who manages the wall for the Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard. "When they heard it happened, they came with tools and wanted to know how they could help."

The Brevard veterans group used to pay between $3,000 and $8,000 to rent a replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall for its Wickham Park reunion, billed as the largest reunion of its kind in the nation. The Traveling Memorial Wall was built for use at the annual Vietnam and All Veterans Reunion in Melbourne and for rent elsewhere. The wall, plus truck and trailer to transport it, costs in excess of $250,000.

Since 1996, Welsh and his wife, Maureen, have taken the wall across the eastern half of the nation for reunions and other events.

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Community rallies to patch up veterans wall

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