By BOB MARTIN
Eagle Times Staff
CLAREMONT, N.H. — With less than three months until the unveiling of the Wall That Heals, City Councilor Bill Limoges is excited that the ball is rolling and now has his focus on recruiting volunteers for the week it is in Monadnock Park.
“I would love to have a pool of 100 volunteers to pull from,” Limoges said. “We’re going to need people 24/7 at that wall. We have people from organizations who have stood up and said they would take the whole shift. These guys said they’d be there all night.”
The Wall That Heals is a three-quarter replica of the Vietnam War monument that is in Washington D.C. The wall will come with an informational education center, various artifacts from the war, and memorabilia that has been left at the wall in Washington.
The wall will arrive on June 24 and Limoges expects plenty of fanfare. Limoges said the Ride Committee has the route planned out and have spoken with police chiefs along the way, as the wall will be coming in from Andover. Rolling Thunder will be involved in the escort of the wall into Claremont with at least 100 motorcycles.
“It will be a sight to behold, but they have no ego so they will be letting the Vietnam veterans lead the group in the parade,” Limoges said.
The setup date will be June 25, and Limoges said this is where the most volunteers will be needed. The wall comes in pieces, and the education center needs to be set up, and while he said it isn’t “super heavy-duty stuff,” it will take a lot of hands to get the job done.
“The more the merrier when it comes to volunteers,” he said. “The hardest thing will be pounding stakes with sledgehammers. But once we get the first panel of names on there, the wall is open.”
On June 26 there will be either an opening ceremony taking place in the morning, or a “welcome home” ceremony in the afternoon. They also have a choice between a PTSD ceremony or an Agent Orange ceremony.
“June is PTSD month so we will probably go with that,” Limoges said. “Both ceremonies are very moving. We’ll have a couple other ceremonies too. There is just so much going on.”
Throughout the week, until June 29, there will be tour guides trained by the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Fund (VVMF) personnel, and he expects there will be tours every couple hours.
“They’ll take them to the education center, over to the wall, and explain the whole thing to everyone,” Limoges said. “You can have floaters to help people find names on the wall, and do rubbings, things like that.”
Limoges said he has been going through the moving parts, explaining he has been on the phone with companies about things like securing a large tent rental and making sure there are enough chemical toilets. Limoges has been brainstorming ideas on shirts to commemorate the wall that will be worn by volunteers, as well as banners to be made for the week.
“It’s all coming together,” Limoges said. “We’re really good in the donation department. Volunteer Coordinator Gwen Lallo has been phenomenal. Josh Nelson has put the prototype of our website up.”
He added, “Justin Martin from Parks and Rec has been on the ball, the fire department is on board, the police, everyone is on board. There are a lot of little things that go into this.”
Limoges said his heart is truly into this, as he has seen Vietnam veterans coping with what war has done to them, and it breaks his heart. He added that it was a war that affected an entire nation, as the war was brought right into everyone’s living rooms. Even as a 7-year-old he remembers watching the news and seeing the body count and being terrified of the prospect of being drafted and sent off to war.
“It scared all of us,” Limoges said. “It affected everybody.”
The wall has only been in the Granite State four times, and this year Claremont was selected as one of only 40 slots across the nation. Limoges is expecting thousands of people to view the wall throughout the week, before heading to its next stop in Farmington, Maine.
A fundraising dance will be taking place on Saturday from 7-10 p.m. at American Legion Post 29, with a $10 admission fee. The event will include a raffle with some cool prizes, and proceeds will go to the Wall That Heals.
To sign up to be a volunteer for the Wall That Heals, log onto signupgenius.com/go/10C0A44A4AD2FA4FCC07-55133981-volunteers#/. You can also email Lallo at [email protected].
For more information log onto vvmf.org/event/The-Wall-That-Heals-Claremont-NH.
