YAZOO CITY, Miss.–You may have to put on a raincoat or take an umbrella, but a trip to Yazoo City this weekend to see and touch the Moving Vietnam Memorial Wall may be worth it. The half-size replica of the Vietnam Memorial in DC will be leaving Mississippi Monday.
In a dedication ceremony for the Wall Friday, Gov. Phil Bryant said he hopes Mississippians will visit the Wall and find meaning in honoring the 58, 283 people whose names are engraved on the wall, who died in the Vietnam War.
That includes 636 people from Mississippi.
“I hope that every child in every school within the distance of travel might come here, place their hands upon that wall, feel those names that are engraved there,” said Bryant.
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“Although there were many failures during the Vietnam era by some politicians and military leaders, you Vietnam veterans were not one of those failures,” said Maj. Gen. Terrill K. Moffett, retired, of Tupelo, one of the keynote speakers, in a ceremony that included a flyover by the Air Force, a wreath-laying for POWs and special music, including bagpipes.
Moffett said he believes that the people who died in Vietnam paved the way for the end of the Cold War.
“We drew a line in the sand as a nation. And your valor in those battlefields forced the communists, including China, Russia and North Vietnam to pay such a high price in blood, equipment and money that we as a nation did not have to fight other battles on other foreign fields.”
Events surrounding the Wall this weekend include a candle light remembrance at 7 p.m. Sunday.
