Press Release - PSA
For Immediate Release
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall, The Wall That Heals, Comes to Centre College
During The Wall's 25th Anniversary - April 24 - 27, 2008
"Welcome Home" were two words that Vietnam Veterans didn't hear often when they returned from serving their country during the Vietnam War. Jan Scruggs was one of those soldiers. After his return home from serving in Vietnam, he conceived the idea of building the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, as atribute to all who served during the longest war in American history. Scruggs felt a memorial would serve as a healing device for a different kind of wound - that inflicted on our national psyche by the long and controversial Asian war. Today, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is the most visited memorial in Washington, with nearly 4.4 million annual visitors. April 24-27 Centre College will host the dramatic replica of the The Wall That Heals, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial located in Washington, D.C. April 24-27. The 250-foot replica will be installed on the lawn of the Norton Center and, along with an accompanying mobile museum, will be open to the public at no charge. Those who would like to volunteer at the Wall may call 859-236-4692.
Jan C. Scruggs, the Vietnam veteran who spearheaded efforts to create a Vietnam memorial, will give a public address at the college on Thursday, April 24 at a dedication ceremony on the lawn at Centre College's Norton Center for the Arts. All veterans, as well as the general public, are invited to attend. Mr. Scruggs will also speak at the Norton Center at 7:00 p.m. that same evening about the new Vietnam Veterans Memorial Center to be built in Washington, DC in the near future. Interviews may be made available upon request.
The traveling replica of the Vietnam memorial has had a dramatic impact on communities throughout the nation. It has been in special demand this year, which marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Memorial's construction in the nation's capital.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial (widely known as The Wall) opened to the public in Washington in 1982, becoming a symbol of national healing and recognition of veterans from that war. The touring replica is complete with the 58,249 names of those killed or missing in action from the conflict. As on The Wall in Washington, the names are listed alphabetically by day of casualty.
A mobile information center accompanies the touring replica, offering visitors a printed directory that eases the task of finding names on The Wall. The accompanying mobile museum features a map of Vietnam, a chronology of the war, and related information that helps explain the conflict to the generations of Americans born in the intervening years.
More about the Vietnam Veterans Memorial online at:
www.vvmf.org or visit www.nortoncenter.com
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Contact: Debra Hoskins
Director of Programs and Public Relations
Norton Center for the Arts
Danville, Kentucky
859-583-1716
nortoncenter.com
Volunteers are needed! Visit the Norton Center, Wednesday, April 23 at 7 p.m. for a volunteer meeting and signup. Call 859-236-4692 for more information.
| Opening Ceremonies Program | Download |
| Download our Opening Ceremonies Program PDF. wall-program-to-clarence.pdf (1.5MB) | |
