SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall was on display in South Charleston Thursday night and will stay at Oakes Field until Sunday afternoon.
Robert Huston, a driver for the wall, which takes up the entire football field, said seeing it is a reminder of how deadly the Vietnam War was.
“There’s over 58,000 names on the wall. And you can mention that to people, but when they can come out and see it, it has a different perspective,” Huston said. “We travel the country because a lot of people can’t make it to D.C. or might not want to go.”
Executive Director of the South Charleston CVB Bob Anderson says the wall had great success three years ago and people wanted it back.
“It had a lot of people and people wanted it back so we brought it back,” Anderson said. “A lot of people in West Virginia died in Vietnam and they look for their names or pencil them off too.”
Huston said the wall serves as a quiet place for families to come and honor those who had served the country.
“Our main purpose is to travel the country and provide a forum for people to pay honor, respect and remembrance to our fallen,” he said.
The wall will be on display all day on Friday and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and will leave on Sunday at 3 p.m.