Liberty Fest Showcases Traveling Vietnam Wall

Visitors to this year’s Canton Liberty Fest will be able to pay respects to our fighting forces at a visiting scale model of Washington D.C.’s Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

The festival will host the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall, a 3/5th scale of the famous black granite wall, complete with all 58,267 names of those who died in that conflict.

This portable wall, which stands six feet tall and covers about 300 feet from end to end, was created by the Vietnam and All Veterans of Brevard. The veteran’s group from Cocoa, Fla. created the wall because of the surge in competition, said Greg Welsh, manager of the exhibit.

“We hold a very large reunion every year, and we tried to get one of the other traveling walls but couldn’t get them in. So in 2005, we decided to build our own,” Welsh said. “It allows the people that for health and/or financial reasons can’t go to the Washington D.C. wall to come and see the names, maybe of their family member or a close friend.”

The Plymouth-Canton Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 528 is sponsoring the portable wall for the festival. John Spencer, a member of the group and manager of ’s Information Technology Department, said he helped convince the organizers to include the wall because of similar popularity during a previous Liberty Fest.

“We had the “Moving Wall” exhibit, which is from a veteran’s group in Northern Michigan, during the 2000 festival, and it had more than 10,000 visitors,” Spencer said. “We tried to get that wall back, but it’s extremely popular and we couldn’t get it on the schedule, so Greg was able to bring up his wall.”

Spencer’s veterans group, as well as the Plymouth VFW and other associations, are helping shoulder the $12,000 cost for the wall. The exhibit will be set up on the practice baseball field adjacent to the three ball fields at Heritage Park.

The opening ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. June 16. Speakers include Canton Township Supervisor Phil LaJoy and Trustee John Anthony, and John Santomauro, retired township public safety director. All three are Marine Corps veterans. The Marines will be also represented by a performance by the Corps Silent Drill Platoon, which hails from Washington D.C.

On June 18, the names of the Michigan KIA/MIA/POW's will be read aloud at the memorial. As an Army private, Spencer served in Vietnam in 1965-67, and he said the wall has very personal memories. “I know about 20 people named on the wall, young men I grew up with or served with who were killed there. It’s overpowering how many young men died,” he said.

The wall will be on display one day longer than the Liberty Fest, with closing ceremonies set for 5 p.m. June 19. State Rep. Dian Slavens will provide the Pledge of Allegiance during the final event.

Volunteers will be present during the festival to assist visitors with finding names, and rubbings will be allowed. Paula Kosbe with the township’s Leisure Services Department is looking for more volunteers. She can be reached at (734) 394-5191 or paula.kosbe@canton-mi.org.