Romeoville: Vietnam Traveling Wall Coming In August
By Nick Reiher
The Village of Romeoville will host the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall from August 21 – August 24.
Arriving by trailer, a welcome parade will escort the wall into town on the morning of the 21st, according to a release from the village.
The wall will then be assembled in the football field parking lot between Village Hall and the Recreation Center. The public will be welcome to view the wall starting at 1 p.m. on the August 21. Viewing hours are dawn to dusk, ending when the sun sets on the 24th.
Village officials said securing a visit from the wall took significant advanced planning. Village staff initially reached out to the group behind the wall in July of 2023.
“As the son of a Vietnam War veteran, it is especially moving for me that Romeoville will be hosting the wall,” said Mayor John Noak in the release. “I encourage everyone to come view this display and to honor those who served in Vietnam and perished or remain missing.”
More details on the wall and accompanying festivities will be available on romeoville.org as August approaches. You can learn more about the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall at www.travelingwall.us.
The full-scale memorial was designed by Maya Lin in 1981. At 21 and still an undergraduate student, she won a public competition for its design, to be built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Her drawing is the shiny black granite wall in a wide “V” shape that continues to be a symbol of enduring legacy, healing and education.
Veterans Memorial and has been touring the country for more than 30 years, and has visited Will County before, most recently New Lenox in 2021 and Manhattan in 2023.
Built by Vietnam veteran volunteers, it was displayed for the first time in Tyler, Texas, in October of 1984.
The Wall – 254 feet long — currently bears 58,283 names of those lost in the war that began in 1959 and ended in 1975 on74, 40-pound panels forged of aluminum silkscreen.
It includes one 15-year-old, eight nurses, 16 chaplains and three sets of fathers and sons.
The replica is 375 feet in length and stands 7.5 feet high at its tallest point. Visitors experience The Wall rising above them as they walk towards the apex, a key feature of the design of The Wall in D.C.
There are two replica versions of The Vietnam Veterans Memorial that tour the United States each year between April and November.
Inscribed on the Memorial are the names of service members who were classified as dead, missing, or prisoner. Right of their names are those of women, all nurses: Eleanor Grace Alexander, Pamela Dorothy Donovan, Carol Ann Drazba, Annie Ruth Graham, Elizabeth Ann Jones, Mary Therese Klinker, Sharon Ann Lane, and Hedwig Diane Orlowski.
Veterans confirmed dead have a diamond icon next to the name, while those whose status is unknown have a cross. When the death of one who was previously missing is confirmed, a diamond is superimposed over the cross. If a missing veteran were to return alive, the cross would be enclosed in a circle.
The Moving Wall has traveled to Will County several times, the last being to Monee in 2024, Manhattan in 2023 and in New Lenox in November 2021.
Nick Reiher is editor of Farmers Weekly Review.