No one knows where in Vietnam Army Sgt. Jerry Dean Stewart died on Feb. 19, 1966. But that doesn't mean the native of Lanagan, Mo., is forgotten.
His is among 58,318 names -- Panel 5E, Line 53 -- on The Wall That Heals, a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The Wall, which at three-quarter scale stands 71/2 feet tall and is 375 feet long, will visit Northwest Arkansas this weekend. It's a collaborative effort that took a year in the making, says Andrew Heath, executive director of Downtown Bentonville Inc.
"Growing up on the East Coast, I could go to Washington, D.C., whenever I wanted," Heath says. "To be able to see a visual representation of all the people who gave their lives to make America what it is today -- not just in Vietnam but in all the wars -- always hit me really hard. But many in the heartland don't have that luxury and haven't seen a lot of the memorials."
Heath discovered the traveling Wall That Heals and suggested it in a meeting that also involved representatives of Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The museum had the space to set up the Wall on the Buckyball Field near the entrance, and a plan was formulated. The Wall will be open to visitors 24 hours a day starting today and ending at 1 p.m. Memorial Day.
"As a community anchor and cultural institution, The Wall That Heals presented an opportunity to tell a uniquely American experience for all of us at Crystal Bridges," says Kash Logan, protection service director at the museum. "Being a U.S. Army veteran, I am especially honored and humbled to be associated with the effort to bring such a wonderful expression of respect to the Northwest Arkansas community."
There are other versions of the Wall, says Tim Tetz, director of outreach for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the nonprofit organization that founded the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in 1982. But this is the only one associated with the Washington landmark, he says, and he believes it is the only one that gives visitors the experience they would have in the nation's capital.
"Every single week I go out with the Wall, we get to have some sort of experience," Tetz says. "I just packed up yesterday in Oakley, Kan., where I met a 7-year-old boy who took a tour of the Wall and was just enamored. He had these great red, white and blue, stars and stripes cowboy boots on, and on Saturday night, he brought those boots down there and left them at the apex of the Wall. It was an image of pure Americana, the epitome of what Oakley is about. And we have those experiences every single week."
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Go & Do
The Wall That Heals
When: Today until 1 p.m. Memorial Day
Where: Buckyball Field, near the entrance to Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville
Cost: Free; donations are accepted
Information: downtownbentonville.org, vvmf.org
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The Wall That Heals:
What You'll See
• A three-fourths-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., 375 feet long and 7 1/2 feet tall.
• Names arranged in order of date of casualty and alphabetically on each day, beginning at the center of the Wall.
• A 53-foot mobile Education Center, which includes a timeline of "The War and the Wall."
• Displays that include Hometown Heroes, photos of service members from this area; a map of Vietnam; In Memory Honor Roll, photos of local Vietnam veterans who returned home and later died of Vietnam-related illnesses; a display of items representative of those left at the Wall in Washington; a digital kiosk that allows visitors to search for names; paper directories to allow for names to be found alphabetically; and the Gold Star Bike, a Softail Custom Harley that pays tribute to the mothers who lost sons in the Vietnam War.
• Source: vvmf.org
General News on 05/23/2019