BROOKINGS — A three-quarter scale of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial — “The Wall,” in Washington, D.C. — comes to the Fishback Soccer Complex in Brookings on June 11- 14.
While “The Wall That Heals” honors those 58,281 personnel named on the Memorial, it brings with it an opportunity to recognize those men and women who suffered due to Agent Orange exposure, post-traumatic stress disorder and other illnesses tied to their military service.
Members of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, headed by president and CEO Jim Knotts, are looking to honor eligible veterans, such as those cited above, through VVMF’s In Memory program, part of the VVMF’s mobile Education Center exhibit. Leading the effort to identify these veterans locally is Kristin Zimmerman, director of the Brookings Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department. She leads the local “The Wall That Heals” committee.
“We want to honor as many Vietnam veterans from South Dakota as possible,” she said. “If your loved one served in Vietnam, returned home and later died, we want to be able to proudly display their name and photo in our community. We’re asking for the public’s help to identify eligible veterans and get their applications into the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund so their veteran can be on display in Brookings.”
Zimmerman and her committee are looking for volunteers to help locate qualified veterans for “The Wall That Heals” and also for volunteers to help visitors make “rubbings” of names on the Wall and to help with mobile education about the Wall.
For more information about “The Wall That Heals” — a Vietnam Veterans Memorial replica and mobile education center — see page 3A of the April 28 issue of The Brookings Register.
Volunteers looking to assist when the exhibit is in Brookings can go to https://www.cityofbrookings-sd.gov/913/Volunteer.
— Contact John Kubal at [email protected].
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