In May, Montrose will host a piece of that history, providing an opportunity for families to remember loved ones, veterans to honor friends and students to learn about the past.
“The Moving Wall is very hard to describe because when you visit it, you are in the wall because of its reflective nature,” said Montrose resident Dan Piencikowski, who served in Vietnam from 1970-71.
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The Moving Wall was created by a nonprofit organization and has been traveling around the country since 1983.
The wall will be in Montrose May 13-16 at Cerise Park. It will be open 24 hours and displayed on the park’s soccer field facing the woods to create privacy, said Gary Johnstone, one of the coordinators of the event. There will be wheelchair access and a walkway.
On Saturday, May 16, Armed Services Day, a celebration at the park starts at 10 a.m. The Montrose County Chamber of Commerce Red Coats will serve food and drinks, Johnstone said. A committee has been set up to help organize and raise funds for the event, and plans are still in progress. Johnstone said there would be one or two bands playing patriotic music and a keynote speaker.
“We are trying to get (Sen.) John McCain and (U.S. General Norman) Schwarzkopf to come,” Johnstone said. He said there are also other generals in the area he wants to contact.
When the news came about the wall, many Montrose community members jumped on board to help. Local veteran motorcycle clubs are expected to escort the wall in and out of town. Some have also asked to guard the wall, as it is required because of its 24-hour access.
“There are a lot of veterans who are going to be coming to this thing and we understand that some want to come late at night, alone,” Johnstone said. “We want to accommodate them.”
The committee is also working on contacting the local schools, inviting fifth- through 12th-graders to visit the wall as part of their curriculum.
The committee hopes for 10,000 visitors, said Jenni Sopsic, director of the Montrose Convention/Visitors Bureau.
With crowds come expenses. Reserving the wall costs a total of $4,500. The committee must also raise funds for a hotel room for several nights for the two wall chaperones. There are also the security expenses. The committee’s total budget is $12,500, Johnstone said. However, the group would like to raise $20,000 to help with school bus and hidden expenses.
Tax-deductible donations to assist can be made to the Montrose Community Foundation, noted, “moving wall component fund” on the check and mailed to the Montrose Community Foundation, P.O. Box 3020, Montrose, CO 81401.
This is the second time the wall has visited Montrose. In 1987, The Moving Wall was stationed on the Montrose High School athletic field. Thousands came to visit, taking pictures of the names of friends and comrades that are among the 58,132 names on the wall of American service men and women who either died, are missing or unaccounted from the Vietnam War.
The four-day event was the conclusion of a 261-mile walk across Colorado by veteran David Chapman II and his fiance at the time, Nancy Brauns. The walk was to raise awareness of the many homeless and unemployed veterans and the rise in government cuts for veteran programs.
Daily Press interviews from the walk and wall visit conjured memories of the anger toward the Vietnam War and the mistreatment of the returning soldiers.
“When I came home, I felt like a bastard at a family reunion,” said Bill Gallegos, a Vietnam vet from Denver, quoted in an 1897 article.
Piencikowski said his visit to the wall would bring back memories, ones he “hangs on to” and ones he keeps “buried.” However, in a choked-up voice he said that he’d visit the wall anyways.
“It’s a small way of saying thank you,” he said. “I’m not alone, I’m just one of the hundreds of thousands on that same boat.”
Contact Kati O’Hare via e-mail at katio@montrosepress.com
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