Vietnam memorial to pass through Southern Illinois in September

A traveling Vietnam memorial wall that made an appearance in Cape Girardeau decades ago will visit the region once more in September.

The American Veterans Traveling Tribute Vietnam Wall will be in Carbondale, Illinois, Sept. 11 through 14 at the practice football field on the Southern Illinois University campus, in conjunction with Southeast Missouri State University and other entities.

Organizers said 7,000 to 10,000 people are expected to come through that weekend.

The traveling wall is an 80 percent scale version of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. The largest replica traveling in the U.S., the 360-foot-long structure contains every name etched on the original. At its apex, the memorial is 8 feet tall.

Thomas Meyer of Cape Girardeau, who is involved in bringing the wall to the area along with Mark "Skip" Cosgrove at SIU, said the wall visited Arena Park in Cape Girardeau about 30 years ago and many Vietnam-era veterans stood watch.

"This is where the wall means more to us, perhaps than the old World War II veterans. Most of us were 18 to 21 years old and we went off to an unpopular war and came back to no acknowledgment," said Meyer, a member of the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents.

When it came, the wall offered some closure for veterans. When he travels to Washington, D.C., Meyer said he looks at one panel at a time.

"This was my youth," he said, adding the names are those of young people who served with him.

Meyer was in a combat construction battalion as a U.S. Navy Seabee. The difference between Seabees and Army engineers was that, for the most part, Seabees were under fire when they built air strips and encampments.

Meyer said what he did isn't important, and although Vietnam veterans are getting older, the healing process continues.

The Traveling Vietnam Wall is being provided through a collaborative effort of Marine Corps League Shawnee Detachment No. 812 and Southern Illinois University, with the support of Southeast Missouri State University veterans, individuals, businesses and social service entities, a news release said.

SIU's annual veterans appreciation football game this year, pitting Southeast against SUI, will feature a veterans appreciation tailgate Sept. 13 in conjunction with the wall visit.

For more information or to contribute to the effort, contact Cosgrove at 618-967-9462, or skipcos@sui.edu, or Meyer at 334-2875, or tmmeyer@tlmrealty.com.

Cosgrove, who served in the Marines, said the goal is to raise $50,000 for the wall. He said Friday the group has received about $15,000 in cash and a little more than $20,000 in in-kind donations.

"What we want to do is take what's left over, totally liquidate the account and distribute the money to local, regional and national veterans' organizations, like the Anna Veterans Home, the Veterans Home in Jackson, the long-term facility at the Marion VA Medical Center and other groups like Vietnam Veterans of America and Hope for the Warriors, a national organization that helps post-9/11 veterans.

"We like Hope for the Warriors because 93 percent of the money raised goes to direct support of veterans," Cosgrove said.

Schoolchildren are expected to visit the wall Sept. 12.

"We're going to have a large opening ceremony with keynote speakers ... and we'll have a large closing ceremony on Sunday afternoon. Each evening we'll have a retreat ceremony, which is basically retiring the colors. That will be at dusk."

rcampbell@semissourian.com

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