George and Kristin Day of Muldrow, BACA pledges, helped set up the wall Wednesday morning. The wall is a traveling, three-quarter-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Dignity Memorial funeral, cremation, and cemetery providers created the memorial as a service to those who might never travel to the nation's capital, according to Dignity Memorial's Web site. The exhibit crisscrosses the country every year, and has the names of more than 58,000 servicemen and women who died or were declared missing in Vietnam. Dedicated to Vietnam veterans and honoring all U.S. veterans, the faux-granite replica is 240 feet long and eight feet high, the Web site says.
"It's an awesome sight," Kristin Day said.
Day said the opening ceremony for the wall, located at the 5100 block of Phoenix Avenue, will be 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Day said Sunday afternoon, names will be read from the wall, and Sunday evening there will be a closing ceremony.
"People need to know it's here," Day said.
Day said BACA will also be providing night-time security at the wall.
Twelve men from Sequoyah County died while serving in the war in Vietnam, according to names listed on a tribute monument constructed in front of Stanley Tubbs Memorial Library in Sallisaw. The 4-H Clubs of Sequoyah County and supporters helped raise the money for the monument.
Those from Sequoyah County who died in Vietnam are:
Don Akins
Neil Bynum
Michael Casey
Ronnie Courtney
Cheek Crosslin
Jimmy Culwell
Jack Dempsey
Dean Harris
Franklin Moore
Ronald Rudick
Jeff Shackelford
Michael Tiffany
