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If you've never seen it, you might not understand it. Throughout this country there are many memorials and monuments honoring the military, and many specific to those who died in Vietnam. But the Vietnam Memorial in Washington perhaps is unlike any other tribute or remembrance. And as testament to this fact it's probably one of the few structures of its kind that has a traveling replica that brings the memorial to the people. From August 4 through 9, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Moving Wall stood on the soccer field of UMass Boston, the host for the moving wall's first-ever visit to Boston. "It's heart-warming to see the pieces coming together," said one of the principal organizers, Ed Rogers, just days before the Wall went up. "When I got involved about a year ago, I was wondering if I bit off more than I could chew." Per capita, Rogers' hometown of South Boston sent more soldiers to Vietnam than any other area of the country. Many of them he grew up with. In the UMass Boston student government many of his contemporaries are half his age, but Vietnam and its memorial touch them too. "Every time we go to Washington with the student government we go see it," he says of the Memorial. "Most of the students are a lot younger than I am, but everyone wants to go." Getting to the Memorial isn't easy for everyone, though. Rogers said the significance of bringing the wall to Boston struck home when he started to field calls from elderly mothers in remote parts of the state, wondering about transportation to campus and facilities here. "Its about location, but also has to do with who we are," Rogers said of why it was important that the wall come to UMass Boston. "It's about what this school means to a lot of people in the area." |
