Healing power of the Vietnam War Memorial comes to Sanford, Maine

SANFORD, Maine — John Rousseau moved slowly along The Wall That Heals, the scaled replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial now on display in Sanford, and scanned each and every name on the synthetic granite panels before him.

Of all the tens of thousands of names on that wall, Rousseau searched for a single one.

Jimmy Cleary, his childhood friend.

“He was like a big brother,” said Rousseau, who grew up in South Berwick. “He went to Vietnam and never came back. He died over there.”

Cleary was 19.

When he was younger, Cleary delivered newspapers, and the Rousseaus were customers along his route. The Rousseaus liked their paperboy so much that they befriended him.

“He used to spend more time at our house than at his house,” Rousseau said. “He took us to drag races.”

Reactions vary when it comes to seeing the names of loved ones on the wall. While the wall intends to heal, the emotional response leading toward that end differs from person to person. Indeed, as Rousseau searched for Cleary’s name on the wall, he did not know what emotions to expect the moment he found it.

“I have no idea,” he said.

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The Numbers Behind the Names

The Wall That Heals arrived and was assembled on Route 109 in Sanford, across the street from Walmart, earlier this week. It will remain on display, 24 hours a day, now through Sunday, Sept. 10. People can visit the wall for free, but donations can be slipped into small boxes posted on the property. The wall is accompanied by a mobile education center, filled with information and historical items, and guides are on hand to lead tours of the site.

The wall is three-quarters the size of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. It is 375 feet long, stands more than seven feet high, and is comprised of 140 panels.

But those aren’t the numbers that matter.

The wall has the names of 58,281 service members of the U.S. military who died during the Vietnam War, which raged in Asia and here at home from the mid-1960s through the mid-70s.

Of those tens of thousands, more than 1,500 are unaccounted for.

Of all names on the monument, eight are women, 161 are Medal of Honor recipients, 43 belong to groups of brothers within a family, and six are fathers and sons.

The average age of the service members on the wall is 23 years and a month. The youngest soldier on the wall died at 15.

And, lastly, 246 is the number of American deaths on the deadliest day of the war on Jan. 31, 1968.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund created The Wall That Heals and brings it to communities throughout America. The wall is displayed in towns and cities, so that people who might not have the opportunity to travel to the nation’s capital to see the etched names instead can have those names come to them.

“Hosting The Wall That Heals provides an opportunity to honor and remember all those who served and sacrificed in the Vietnam War and educate visitors on the continuing impact of the Vietnam War on America,” said Jim Knotts, president and CEO of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund.

The Vietnam Memorial in D.C. opened in 1982. The Wall That Heals made its debut in 1996 and has been displayed in more than 700 U.S. communities, as well as in Canada and in four provinces in Ireland.

Names of service members on the wall can be pinpointed by visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund’s website.

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'Take a Moment' at The Wall That Heals

During the Sanford City Council meeting on Sept. 5, Dale Nason, the president of the Maine chapter of the Patriot Riders of America, thanked local officials and members of the local Elks Lodge for bringing the wall to the community. He urged people to visit the monument.

“Take a moment, go down there, and see it,” Nason said.

Nason added that there are Vietnam veterans who will never be able to go see the memorial in D.C. because either they do not want to go or do not have the means.

“Having this wall here, in this town, over the next few days, will give these people the opportunity of closure,” he said. “They can go, see, and touch the names of their friends or family members.”

Tom Becker, of Wells, visited the wall on its first day in Sanford. Becker was drafted and served on the USS Wilkinson, off Newport, Rhode Island, when he served in the military in the late '60s. He did not serve in Vietnam, nor did he know anyone whose name was on the wall, but he felt drawn to the visiting monument and wanted to pay his respects.

Becker said he was an advocate for the war during its onset. However, as time continued, and he read more and more of the conflict’s development in newspapers, his thoughts and feelings began to change. He said it was a “bad time,” one in which people who did not serve “gave a lot of static to the people who were over there.”

As, like Rousseau, Becker read the names etched before him, he reflected on what The Wall That Heals makes clear to those who visit it.

“A lot of people died for us.”

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: The Wall That Heals Vietnam memorial comes to Sanford, Maine