By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
Last November, it was announced that a Vietnam Memorial wall replica
would be coming to Great Bend. The Wall That Heals, a three-quarter scale of
the memorial in Washington D.C., will be displayed at Veterans Memorial Park in
Great Bend May 11-14.
Great Bend Public Lands Director Scott Keeler said the wall, formed with two wings, will be positioned
along the outfield grass at Al Burns Field.
"They want to run the wall at a 115-degree angle, kind of a chevron shape out there," said Keeler. "The full wall has a height near eight feet at the center and then tapers down to about four feet. Each one of the wings are 185 feet long. That's 370 feet of wall that will be LED lit, open 24 hours a day while it's there."
The wall honors the more than three million Americans who served in the U.S.
Armed Forces in the Vietnam War and bears the names of the more than 58,000 men
and women who died in Vietnam.
Visitors in Great Bend will be able to do name rubbings of individual names on
the wall.
Great Bend is seeking approval to close Main Street on May 8 or
May 9 to allow a “parade” escort for the 53-foot trailer carrying the wall once it arrives to town.