Traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Eastern NC
HAVELOCK, NC (WNCT) — In Craven County, the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from Washington, D.C. has made its stop in Havelock.
The Wall That Heals is officially on display in Walter B. Jones Park and will be there through this Sunday. Over 58,000 names of the service members who lost their lives during the Vietnam War are listed along the wall. Many come from our area of Eastern North Carolina.
“You can leave the country, but you don’t really leave it inside of you. It comes back with you,” said Gary Gillette.
Gillette is a volunteer while the wall is in town, but is also a Vietnam Veteran himself. He’s been reflecting on his time served alongside so many friends who are now listed on the memorial.
“I have one friend here that I wrestled with in high school,” said Gillette. “He went over just a short time after I did, but he didn’t come back. And it just, every time I see the wall, it tears me up. It really does.”
