Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall is in Hillsdale this weekend

Jun. 9—The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall, a 3/5th scale of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall in Washington that attracts audiences around the country, was revealed Friday morning in Hillsdale by the Friends of Ernie Pyle.

The Traveling Wall stands six feet tall at the center and covers almost 300 feet from end to end. It contains names of more than 58,300 American military members who died during the conflict.

Lonnie Bedwell, a veteran from Dugger who was blinded in a hunting accident 26 years ago, was the keynote speaker, regaling those in attendance with his charismatic tales of derring-do since going blind. Last month, he reached the summit of Mount Everest, and he's previously scaled Denali and Mount Kilimanjaro.

He credited his three daughters with instilling in him the courage to try a variety of adventurous quests.

"They changed my vision more than my blindness ever did," Bedwell said. Soon, he was kayaking whitewater rapids in the Grand Canyon, snow-skiing at 60 mph, rock climbing, and helping build houses from the roof down.

He joked that when people asked him what he was doing on a roof, he'd reply, "I'm on a roof?"

Bedwell's motto: "Blindness is a part of me, but it doesn't define me."

After his speech, one fan told him that he expected him to get in a barrel and go over Niagara Falls next. Bedwell laughed and said he hopes to visit Antarctica and ski the South Pole.

"Prior to being blind, if you had told me that a blind guy could do what I have done, I'd have said, 'No way,'" Bedwell said. "I've lived a humbling, surreal life. I just shake my head constantly."

In an interview, he said, "If I could see tomorrow, would I? Yeah. If I could go back 26 years and change it? Not a chance."

Bedwell said he became a motivational speaker about five years ago after addressing local schools on a smaller scale before that. He has visited the Vietnam Memorial in Washington and the 9/11 memorial in New York City. He gets choked up discussing those visits.

"I got a guy I served with that's on the [9/11] memorial," he said. "From my standpoint, to have his name permanently etched for his sacrifice, yeah, he deserves it. They all deserve it."

His voice cracking, he added, "I know, myself, when they took me to the memorials in Washington, D.C., and New York, the one in New York first, to reach up there and put my hand and feel his name and just to remember his smile and remember all the time we served together..."

He left it at that.

Completed in 1982, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the most-visited memorial on the National Mall in Washington, attracting more than 5 million people each year.

Initially, architect Maya Lin's design was controversial, called "a black gash of shame and sorrow" and "a nihilistic slab of stone."

Since then, of course, the Wall has become iconic; Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund President Jan Scruggs has called it "something of a shrine."

In 2007, it ranked tenth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture.

A number of veterans came to see the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall. Paul Hamand served in Vietnam between 1963-66. He made an etching of his cousin Michael Fulk's name from the Wall.

"It means freedom to me," Hamand said of the Wall. "That's what we fought for."

In addition to his cousin, he lost one comrade in Vietnam, a Navy squadron pilot.

"We had a service for him in Hong Kong and he was buried at sea," Hamand said. "It's been so long ago."

Jerry Allen of Terre Haute, who served from 1964-65 in the Air Force, didn't know any of the names on the wall.

"It's sad to think that all these people died for a war people hated," he said. "All I know is I served my time, but I felt sorry for all these service guys who passed away."

Allen noted that at the time, veterans were blamed for the war by protestors when they were merely serving their country. Nowadays, he said, veterans are honored for their service regardless of public opinion of a war.

"That's really changed," he said. "A lot of that had to do with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq."

Tom Hunley of Bloomingdale etched David Lee Collins' name off the Wall. He graduated from high school with him in 1964.

He was there with his son Tom and his son's wife Ralaina, from Bowling Green, Ky., who have visited the D.C. Wall.

"When we went, there were people crying, there were people tracing names and it's just overwhelming because the wall is so huge, you feel really small," Ralaina said. "And there's so many names, it puts it in perspective. It's really wonderful that you can touch the names and there's texture to it. It's not just flat."

Tom added that Ralaina's mother saw it with them; the sight of it made her cry, causing her mascara to run.

"I wrote a little poem because I was moved, too, but she didn't like that I mentioned her mascara ran," he recalled. "She thought it made her look bad."

Jerry Eitnier of Hillsboro said his high school class lost three soldiers in Vietnam.

He didn't serve, he said, because "They didn't want an 18-year-old kid with a broken back. At the time, that was a good deal. I'm not sure anymore." Eitnier said he "absolutely" would have served, though the war "lasted far too long."

He added that his cousin had a heart valve issue and couldn't serve in the conflict, either.

"We're the first two males in my family that have not served since the Civil War," Eitnier said. On the other hand, "My brother served 23 years — he made up for us."

The Wall is open to the public 24 hours a day until 9 p.m. Sunday at the International Paper Family Park, 4840 S. County Road 360 E. in Hillsdale.

Replicas of memorials for 9/11 and the Iraq and Afghanistan wars are also on display.

Jack Shannon will perform both nights at 7 p.m.; Dylan Riggen will perform Saturday at 8 p.m.

The Ernie Pyle WWII Museum at 120 W Briarwood Ave. in Dana, which brought the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall to Hillsdale, has expanded its hours this weekend: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.

David Kronke can be reached at 812-231-4232 or at david.kronke@tribstar.com.