We Said We’d All Go Down Together: The Wall That Heals Visits Gettysburg Campus

By Alex McComas

During the weekend of October 10th, Gettysburg College was host to The Wall That Heals, a half sized replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall which resides in Washington, D.C. This traveling exhibit, which has roamed across the United States and into parts of Canada and Ireland since 1996, is joined by the Traveling Museum and Information Center. The museum provided a small display, among other things, of just a few photos of soldiers lost in Vietnam. Their faces, only a few of the 58,260 names now engraved upon the Wall, were the center of attention to those walking towards McKnight and Kline Theater from October 8th to 11th.

The Wall That Heals is one of two moving Vietnam Memorial walls, the other being The Moving Wall built in 1984. The intent for the first moving wall holds true to The Wall That Heals – to bring the Wall to those who are otherwise unable to go to D.C., or, in some cases, unable to brave the memorial and what it embodies. The idea is that families can visit the Wall in a comfortable atmosphere, in the familiarity and security of their hometown.

Students could watch as community members of Gettysburg, and perhaps further towns, ventured across campus to walk along the Wall. Grown men and woman could be seen stooping before the white names in silent contemplation, holding the hands of their restless children and grandchildren. Veterans in formal uniform congregated to tell their wartime stories, chatting also with any of those who braved a respectful ‘hello.’

Even as night fell, a few souls could still be seen walking silently along the angled wall, now illuminated by rows of lights. Some even sat in the lounge chairs before Penn Hall, joined by friends, to talk quietly before the bitter-sweet display. There were even small tokens left before the Wall, in the same tradition as the original Vietnam Memorial in D.C.

The Vietnam War lasted from 1959 to 1975 and saw casualties in the millions. Many others were declared “Missing in Action” or “Prisoners of War.” On the memorial, there is carved a shape either preceding or following each name. A diamond symbolizes a confirmed death. A cross, or plus sign, is put by the name of a serviceman who, being either MIA or POW, has yet to be discovered as having died or survived the ordeal. If it is finally discovered that they had died, the serviceman’s cross is carved over with a diamond; if he is discovered to have lived, a circle is superimposed. There has yet to be a case, however, where a circle has been carved into the wall.

As The Wall That Heals left for its final stop of the year in Medford, Wisconsin, the campus quieted down and saw fewer community visitors. Ceremonies were completed, the campus ground tidied back to normal, and students walked again where, just days before, the Wall had stood. The Wall That Heals has before been on the Gettysburg College campus, and whether or not it shall again make its way back to Penn Hall in the future, the campus remains forever graced with that bitter honor.