VIETNAM MEMORIAL WILL RETURN

~Correction: McCubbin's first name is Ron.

McCubbin remembers vividly his visit to the Vietnam Veterans Traveling Wall 11 years ago: He spent almost seven straight days at the wall checking names and talking with other veterans.

McCubbin spent three tours of duty in Vietnam but didn't realize how many other veterans there were in the area until the wall visited. During the course of the seven-day visit nearly every veteran in Southeast Missouri visited the wall, he said.

"We worked together and never spoke about Vietnam," he said. Many veterans didn't talk about their experiences because the war had been so divisive.

Seeing the wall "was a very emotional, healing experience," McCubbin said. But it doesn't offer healing for just veterans "it's healing for everybody because it was the war that tore the country apart."

Cape Girardeau has been chosen as the only site in Missouri for a traveling wall display that honors soldiers from the Vietnam War. The exhibit will be on display April 20 through 24 on the grounds at the A.C. Brase Arena Building. The display is open 24 hours a day and there is no admission charge.

At the permanent site in Washington, D.C., nearly 2.5 million visitors are reported each year. The traveling exhibit, also known as the "wall that heals," was displayed in 1989 at West Park Mall. During that visit, sponsored by the American Legion and the Joint Veterans Council, nearly 50,000 people saw the wall.

Thousands of visitors are expected this year for the visit, sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Convention and Visitors Bureau in conjunction with the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Vietnam Veterans Group.

Activities planned during the visit include a wreath-laying ceremony and a candlelight ceremony.

"People who follow the wall are really looking forward to having it here," said Terri Clark-Bauer, CVB director. "People have a great deal of respect for this memorial."

Cape Girardeau provides "the appropriate setting in which to reflect and pay tribute to Vietnam Veterans from across our region," she said.

The City Council approved a financial agreement for $4,500 between the CVB and the traveling wall during Tuesday's meeting. The money covers contributions for the display, housing for two traveling wall representatives and miscellaneous expenses.

But Clark-Bauer said, "I've heard that people will show up from all over to volunteer." She expects more than 25,000 people for the Easter weekend visit.

The wall is a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which contains the names of 58,209 soldiers who died between 1959 and 1975.

The wall includes two panels that are 123 feet long, 5 feet high and meet at a 121-degree angle. Each name on the wall is etched by laser in reflective black aluminum. A database is used to track the names of specific soldiers. It also travels with five displays of flags, a pictorial and museum displays.

The wall helped "bring the veterans back to society and society back to us," McCubbin said.

Many of the soldiers in Vietnam felt isolated because they entered the war individually, not as units. But seeing the wall and hearing from veterans of Korea and World Wars I and II helped create some cohesion, he said.

"Things like the VFW were run by the veterans of those wars, and they didn't always consider us as veterans," McCubbin said.

The same has been true of veterans from Desert Storm. They didn't think they were getting recognition, he said. So Vietnam veterans have tried to offer their support.

Whether you are fighting enemies in the trenches and dodging bullets or seeing the enemy raise their hands in surrender, "you are still putting yourself in harm's way for your country," McCubbin said.

While the Vietnam memorial has helped unite veterans of all wars, the nation's largest group of veterans those from World War II have no national memorial.

A campaign to raise $100 million for construction of a memorial in Washington is nearly 70 percent complete, according to information from the World War II Memorial Web site.

Groundbreaking for the national memorial has been set for Veterans Day. The structure will be situated at the Rainbow Pool site on the east end of the reflecting pool between the Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument in Washington.

Much of the money has been raised by civic clubs and private donations.