After months of planning, Vietnam memorial replica to arrive in Princetown

PHOTOGRAPHER: Brett Samuels

Princetown Town Supervisor Bob Myers, state Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara, D-Rotterdam and volunteers discuss the arrival of the Wall That Heals, a Vietnam memorial replica which will be coming to Princetown on Tuesday.

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The Wall That Heals, a Vietnam memorial replica, will arrive in Princetown on Tuesday after months of planning and preparation.

Local officials and volunteers gathered near Princetown Town Hall on Monday, where the traveling memorial will be set up from Wednesday through Sunday. The wall will officially open to visitors on Thursday morning, and will remain open 24 hours a day until Sunday afternoon. Volunteers and politicians on Monday said the wall gives residents a chance to honor veterans and pay their respects without making the trek to Washington D.C.

The Wall That Heals is a 250-foot replica of the Vietnam Memorial located in the nation’s capital. It features names of the thousands of fallen and unaccounted-for soldiers, and will include a trailer of memorabilia and artifacts from the war that will be available for public viewing. The wall travels from town to town across the nation, and is slightly different from the Moving Wall, a different Vietnam memorial that made an appearance in Halfmoon in June.

For the past few months, volunteers have worked to transform the area next to Princetown Town Hall where the memorial will sit from a wooded space covered in brush to a neatly maintained plot of grass that’s dotted with flower pots and an American flag. The Princetown Volunteers, led by resident Doug Thorpe, represent just one facet of a largely volunteer-led effort to bring the wall to Princetown.

The wall costs $7,500 to bring to town, an amount that’s been covered by donations from residents and area businesses, Princetown Town Supervisor Bob Myers said.

“As a small town, we wouldn’t have been able to do this if it wasn’t for local businesses and residents,” he said.

The wall will be escorted by Patriot Riders through Schenectady County on Tuesday, making its way down State Street around 11:30 a.m. and arriving at its destination in Princetown around noon. The wall will be enclosed in a decorated trailer. It was previously in Springfield, Massachusetts, and volunteers will drive down to the state border to pick it up.

Members of the Air National Guard will install the wall Wednesday morning, and the memorial will officially open with a ceremony at 10 a.m. on Thursday.

The memorial will remain open around the clock until Sunday at 3 p.m. This gives veterans or those who want to visit the memorial when it’s less crowded the opportunity to do so, volunteers said.

Parking will be available down the street at Schalmont High School, and shuttles will carry people to the site at Town Hall from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, and from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturday. The event will conclude with a closing ceremony at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

Reach Gazette reporter Brett Samuels at 395-3113, [email protected] or @Brett_Samuels27 on Twitter.