Vietnam traveling memorial stops in Whitefish

The Wall That Heals traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial will make a stop in Whitefish Aug. 22-25 at the Grouse Mountain fields.

The wall is a half-scale replica of the memorial in Washington, D.C., designed to travel to communities throughout the U.S. It is about 250 feet in length, and like the original memorial, is erected in a chevron shape. The names of missing or fallen soldiers of the war are listed on the wall by day of casualty.

Lion Mountain VFW Post 276, with the assistance of VFW posts in Eureka, Bigfork and Kalispell, coordinated the Whitefish tour stop. It will be the wall’s only stop in Montana.

“We’re excited and honored to do this for this small of a community,” said event coordinator Kelly Kvigne. “We hope it’s a healing process. Maybe it will help some people find some kind of closure.”

Members of the Lion Mountain post have been planning since February of 2012 to bring the wall to Whitefish.

An opening ceremony will be held Thursday, Aug. 23 at 10 a.m. with Lt. Gov. John Walsh as the guest speaker.

Friday, Aug. 23 at 10 a.m., Sarah Hartland of Bigfork will present an essay. She recently took third place in the Voice of Democracy essay contest.

Saturday, Aug. 24 at 10 a.m. Whitefish Eagle Scout Hugh Ramlow will give a presentation for youth day at the wall.

Sunday, Aug. 25 is a closing ceremony with former Navy SEAL commander Ryan Zinke as the guest speaker.

A program available at each event lists all Montana troops lost in the war.

To learn more about the wall, visit www.vvmf.org.