'Moving Wall' visits Lemoore for the week

By Janet Enquist

The Moving Wall, a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, will be displayed at West Hills College, Lemoore, the site of Fresno State distance learning courses, from Oct. 5 to 11.

The wall is half the size of the actual memorial in Washington D.C., according to the wall’s official Web site. A news article on the site by Michael Oricchio reports that there are three Moving Walls. Two of the walls tour the country and one is a backup in case of booking problems.

The walls are 250 feet long, 6 feet in the center and 4 feet at the ends. They have 58,175 names of Americans who died in Vietnam.

Each year the walls visit 22 to 28 cities across the United States and it is approximated that 75,000 to 100,000 people visit the memorials in each city.

Ron Ramos, a Vietnam veteran, decided three years ago to e-mail the Vietnam Combat Veterans Limited and put his request in for the wall to come to Lemoore. Last January he was contacted, and Lemoore was put on the schedule.

“ There is a lot people in this area that will never make it back to Washington D.C.,” said Ramos, a Lemoore resident. “And I for one am a veteran.”

Ramos is a member of the Military Order of Turtles Hut-36, the organization sponsoring the appearance of the wall. This veterans volunteer organization serves veterans that are in the hospital. The Rotary Club of Lemoore is another major sponsor and there are also many individual donors.

The money raised goes toward maintaining and insuring the walls and transportation fees. It also pays for portable toilets and lights.

“ I think that Lemoore is fortunate to have a visit because of our military base,” said Lori Bow, a liberal arts major who attends classes in Fresno and Lemoore. “It is important to make our public aware of all the military does for us.”

John Devitt, a Vietnam veteran and the builder of The Moving Wall, will also be in Lemoore to share his story.

“ I think that it’s good to bring it to Lemoore. I think it is neat for the people of Lemoore to honor it, maybe it can also bring people together,” said Stefani Gilson, a liberal arts major who attends classes in Fresno and Lemoore. “It is something that we’ve never had.”