By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
The Wall That Heals, a mobile replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., returns to Del Rio today and will be open to the public 24 hours a day beginning Thursday.
The wall will be constructed at 1117 W. De La Rosa St., and its return to Del Rio was organized by F.O.B. Del Rio, a local nonprofit veterans advocacy group led by Army veteran Adrian Bitela.
According to a schedule of events posted on F.O.B. Del Rio’s website, www.fobdelrio.com, the wall will arrive in Del Rio today and will be constructed by volunteers Wednesday.
The public opening of The Wall That Heals will begin with a “Welcome Home” ceremony scheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday at 1117 W. De La Rosa St. Special guest speaker Bobby Barrera, a Vietnam veteran and former president of the Disabled Veterans of America, will open the ceremony.
Following the ceremony, The Wall That Heals will open to the public 24 hours a day. “Taps” will be played at sunset each night.
According to F.O.B. Del Rio’s website, a final roll call acknowledging those servicemen killed in action in Vietnam from Del Rio and the surrounding areas will be held Saturday.
A closing ceremony is scheduled for 1:45 p.m. Sunday, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, The Wall That Heals will close.
The wall is a 375-foot replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which was dedicated in 1982. Its reflective black granite panels list the names of the 58,318 men and women who died during the country’s prosecution of the war in Vietnam.
The panels of the memorial include the names of several young men from Del Rio who were killed in the war, including 19-year-old Rene Javier Salazar, a U.S. Marine Corps lance corporal who was killed in Quang Nam Province on Dec. 19, 1968, and 20-year-old Nolberto Frausto Jr., a U.S. Marine Corps private first class who was killed in Thua Thien Province on Feb. 3, 1968.
The writer can be reached at delriomagnoliafan@gmail.com
