A Traveling Memorial for Fallen Soldiers

The names of thousands of fallen soldiers have come to the Tri-Cities in the form of a three-day exhibit.

Originated by Thomas and Dee Twigg of Fort McCoy, Florida, the Bringing Home the Wall exhibit is a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C.

The arrival of the wall at Fremont’s DeVry University campus marks its first trip to California. It will remain on display from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Sunday, Aug. 13, at DeVry, 6600 Dumbarton Circle, Fremont.

The project started off as a table set up during Thanksgiving of 1994, to commemorate the soldiers who couldn’t be home for the holiday.

An elderly woman on oxygen approached the table in a wheelchair and inspired the Twiggs to create the traveling wall. She talked of how she would never make it to the real one in Washington, D.C. to place the medals of her deceased son, who was killed in action during the Vietnam War.

But one year later, the woman found herself doing the next best thing: She placed her son’s medals at the foot of the traveling wall the Twiggs spent a year creating.

Since then, the Twiggs have traveled with the wall throughout the country, putting it on display for people who are unable to visit Washington, D.C. Within the past two years, they’ve been doing it through partnership with DeVry University. 

The exhibit was welcomed on Wednesday with a full ceremony, which included a color guard presentation by representatives with the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion, a performance of the national anthem and speeches.

For DeVry University President Michael Cubbin, the exhibit really did bring things home: three of his high school classmates’ names are on the wall. He encouraged people of the community to come out and pay their respects to the fallen soldiers of the Vietnam War at the exhibit.

It was just as difficult for Wayne Anthony, V director of Outreach Services and a Vietnam veteran, who was wearing his most prized possession — his dog tag — and a pair of red socks that belonged to his father, who was a World War II veteran. His father’s flag was even flying on a flag pole nearby.

The opening of the exhibit wasn’t just a moving event for those who knew people who fought in the Vietnam War but also for veterans like World War II veeran Henry Keyser who fought for our country a generation before.

Keyser said it was a reminder of sacrifices other people have made; he recalled the loss of someone who was not only a comrade but a childhood friend who was killed in action.

 “I remember sitting down in the mud, crying,” he said. "You weren’t supposed to do that.  You’re supposed to be a big boy.  It’s not manly to cry. …This is a great reminder.  It’s a flashback for you.”

Jake Dalton, another World War II veteran, added “Hopefully, it’ll make people realize young men and women that we lost in the war; that it was futile. …Hopefully, people who come and see this will be reminded of how many deaths were caused by nothing.”

Mickey Ganitch, a Navy veteran who has visited the Memorial in Washington, D.C., the replica as an honorable symbol for those who fell serving for our country.

Gantich survived the Pearl Harbor bombing on Dec. 7, 1941 while aboard the USS Pennsylvania. He remembers being "all padded up" and ready to play a game of football that morning with the rest of the crew when the bombing started. One bomb hit on 45 feet away.

“We’re going to honor them because they’re just as important as the people that are still living,” he said of the exhibit. “They served for our country well and they died for our country.”