The Wall That Heals Garner Visit Rescheduled for April 29 through May 2, 2021
The Wall That Heals, a travelling ¾-scale replica of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will be coming to Garner’s Lake Benson Park in April 29 through May 2, 2021
The Wall That Heals will visit Garner’s Lake Benson Park on April 29 through May 2, 2021.
The event, hosted by Show N Tell Ministries, brings the preeminent replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial to the area for Vietnam veterans, family members and other members of the committee.
The Wall will be open 24 hours a day and is free to the public.
The Wall is a 3/4 scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and travels with a mobile education center. It will be on display at the Garner Veterans’ Memorial at 921 Buffaloe Rd, Garner, NC 27529.
» GROUPS: School & youth groups are encouraged to visit. Please schedule a time.
» PLAN YOUR VISIT: Find out about what to expect and where to go.
Find our more at garnerwall.com
Plans Dashed by Coronavirus, Garner Will Apply Again for The Wall That Heals
The Wall That Heals, a travelling ¾-scale replica of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will not be coming to Garner’s Lake Benson Park in April. The Wall’s display here has been postponed because of the coronavirus.
“The visit hasn’t been cancelled; it has been postponed,” said Tim Stevens, who was spearheading the effort to display the wall here in honor of our community’s Vietnam veterans. “We hope to schedule The Wall to come in 2021 or 2022.”
The Wall That Heals, a travelling ¾-scale replica of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will not be coming to Garner’s Lake Benson Park in April. The Wall’s display here has been postponed because of the coronavirus.
“The visit hasn’t been cancelled; it has been postponed,” said Tim Stevens, who was spearheading the effort to display the wall here in honor of our community’s Vietnam veterans. “We hope to schedule The Wall to come in 2021 or 2022.”
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund received more than 130 invitations from communities to host The Wall last year and Garner was among the 30 or so communities that were selected.
Stevens said the VVMF would begin accepting invitations for 2021 on May 25, 2020. The VVMF schedules a national tour with The Wall spending about a week at each of the selected sites. This year’s tour was to visit 20 different states.
“There is no guarantee that we’ll be selected again, but I’m optimistic,” Stevens said. “The VVMF has said it will work with us, and the other sites that had to postpone, to reschedule.”
Most of the donations that were made to bring The Wall to Garner are being saved to use when The Wall is brought here in the next couple of years.
“We had already spent some of our donations on advertising and other start up expenses, but every other dollar has been designated for The Wall in 2021 or 2022,” Stevens said.
The committee that worked on bringing The Wall here this year is expected to pick up preparations where it stopped this year.
“One of the best things we did was set our website, garnerwall.com,” Stevens said. “We have tons of information on the site and we are going to keep it active. We have pictures and stories of about 70 area men who went to Vietnam and other stories on the men from Wake County and Johnston County who were killed in the war.”
Ambassador Volunteers Needed for The Wall That Heals Visit to Garner
Volunteers are needed to be ambassadors at The Wall That Heals during its stay at Garner’s Lake Benson Park on April 16 through 19.
Volunteers are needed to be ambassadors at The Wall That Heals during its stay at Garner’s Lake Benson Park on April 16 through 19.
The ambassadors generally will have four-hour shifts during the day and longer shifts at night. The ambassadors will be trained to help guests find individual names on The Wall and to answer general questions about The Wall That Heals and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The training session for all volunteers at 6 p.m., on Wednesday, April 15.
Go to garnerwall.com to volunteer.
Ambassadors will be on hand at TWTH 24 hours a day from when The Wall opens at 12:01 a.m., on Thursday until The Wall closes at 2 p.m., on Sunday.
The Wall That Heals is a traveling ¾ scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. More than 130 communities throughout the United States applied to host The Wall That Heals in 2020 and Garner was among the 34 communities selected to host it.
Able-bodied volunteers also are needed to help assemble The Wall That Heals on Wednesday, April 15 and to disassemble The Wall on Sunday, April 19. The assembly will begin at 8:30 a.m., and usually takes about eight hours. Volunteer are expected to stay until The Wall is erected, regardless of the weather.
The Wall will be taken down beginning at 2 p.m., on Sunday. It usually takes about six hours to take down the wall and pack it in its truck.
Go to garnerwall.com to volunteer.
Garner Pauses on December 21st for Wreath Laying and Gold Star Family Recognition
Garner pauses to recognize our military sacrifices and Gold Star families
Wreaths will be hung at the Garner Veterans Memorial and our Gold Star families will be recognized on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 10 a.m., at Lake Benson Park. The public is invited.
Wreaths will be hung at the Garner Veterans Memorial and our Gold Star families will be recognized on Saturday, Dec. 21 at 10 a.m., at Lake Benson Park. The public is invited.
2018 Wreath Laying Ceremony
The wreaths, one each for the five branches of service, will be placed at the memorial by military personnel. Two members of the honor guard from Seymour Johnson Air Force base, U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Bani Bunyan, recently retired U.S. Marine Capt. Trey Grissom, U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer George F. Lauff, Jr.; U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Jason Trail and U.S. Army Major General Charles Scott (retired) are expected to form the military escort.
Bagpipes played by Jeff Hammerstein will lead the Town of Garner's Honor Guard to the memorial.
After the wreaths are hung, each of the escort will hang a star on the tree in honor of the families of the men represented by the gold stars. The public is invited to hang stars in honor of the families of the loved one who died while in military service.
Sixty-six stars already are hanging on the tree in honor of the 66 community men who were killed while in the military.
Recognizing Garner’s Vietnam Veterans
There will be special recognition of our Vietnam veterans.
Eight men from the community were killed in Vietnam.
The Wall That Heals, a traveling ¾ scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will visit Lake Benson Park on April 16-19. The Wall that Heals is 400-foot long and 7.5 feet high at its tallest point. It is expected to be located near the Garner Veterans Memorial.
The Wall That Heals travels with a mobile learning center.
Learn more about The Wall That Heals visit to Garner below.
Garner Community Call: Vietnam Veterans, Share Your Story
The local organizing committee of The Wall That Heals’ visit to Garner is trying to assemble a list of all the community men and women who served in Vietnam.
“But we know that we are missing a lot of Vietnam veterans. We’d like to talk to as many as possible. We plan to have a display at the wall about our local Vietnam veterans.”
Garner’s Tony Warren, a medic in Vietnam, is featured in an iconic Vietnam photograph. Warren is on the ground with a bandaged comrade. Warren is peering into the distance during a fire fight on June 15, 1967.
The Garner community had eight men killed in the Vietnam War and dozens of others in the community served in Vietnam.
The local organizing committee of The Wall That Heals’ visit to Garner is trying to assemble a list of all the community men and women who served in Vietnam. If you served or know of someone in the community who served, please email timstevens710@gmail.com.
“We have the stories of about 40 men from the area who served in Vietnam,” said Tim Stevens, the president of Show N Tell Ministries, which is organizing the wall’s display in Garner.
“But we know that we are missing a lot of Vietnam veterans. We’d like to talk to as many as possible. We plan to have a display at the wall about our local Vietnam veterans.”
The Wall That Heals
The Wall That Heals is a traveling ¾ scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. More than 130 communities made bids to host the wall in 2019 and Garner was among the 34 communities who were selected.
The wall will be at Garner’s Lake Benson Park on April 16 through 19. The wall lists the name of each of the 58,276 Americans who perished during the Vietnam conflict.
The wall is almost 400 feet long and is 7.5 feet tall at its highest point. Once the 140 panels are erected, the wall will be open and staffed 24 hours a day. An LED lighting system ensures that each name is visible at night.
Each name is engraved on the Avonite panels and visitors can do name rubbings.
The wall is accompanied by a mobile Education Center. Garner also plans to have a tent where the stories of our community men will be displayed.
“Last spring, when we presented “Duty,” a play about Garner and Vietnam, we displayed more than three dozen pictures and stories of our community men in Vietnam,” Stevens said. “We would like to add more stories and pictures for the display at the wall.”
Garner’s Tony Warren, a medic in Vietnam, is featured in an iconic Vietnam photograph. Warren is on the ground with a bandaged comrade. Warren is peering into the distance during a fire fight on June 15, 1967.
The photograph was used in Ken Burns’ documentary about Vietnam and was published newspapers throughout the country.
“The picture is certainly worth 1,000 words, but all of the pictures that we have assembled tell their story,” Stevens said. “We want to tell our community’s Vietnam story as well as to honor all those who perished.”
If you served in Vietnam, please contact Tim Stevens at timstevens710@gmail.com.