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Source:
Dennison Railroad Depot Museum
The Dennison
Railroad Depot Museum will be host to the Vietnam Traveling
Memorial Wall Aug. 7 - 10 as part of the Depot's 2009
American Soldiers Homecoming festival. Area Vietnam
veterans under the leadership of Patrick Walker and
Tom Burke are partnering with the Dennison Depot to
bring the Wall to Tuscarawas County.
The Wall is
expected to arrive in Dennison Aug. 6 and will be escorted
into town by the motorcycles of Rolling Thunder.
An opening ceremony will held that night at 9 p.m. and will
include a welcome by Dennison Mayor Teri Edwards.
An invocation
and the National Anthem will be sung each day during the
Wall's visit. Programs will be held each day at the
Wall, and the tentative schedule includes a roll call and
wreath laying Aug. 7, a candlelight vigil Aug. 8, and a
closing ceremony and retiring of the flag Aug. 10 at 2 a.m.
Uhrichsville Mayor Rick Rieger will speak at the
closing ceremony.
The Wall will
be on display at the Dennison City Park and will be open to
visitors 24 hours a day. Information will be available
on all the names on the wall, and visitors will be able to
do rubbings of the names. Also on display will be
3,100 white wooden crosses on Dennison High's former
football field, representing the 3,100 Ohioans who died in
Vietnam.
This year's
third annual American Soldiers Homecoming Festival, which
featured the Korean War last year, will focus on the Vietnam
Era this year. Veterans are encouraged to contact the
Depot to be placed on a mailing list to receive all event
details. Museum board member Steve Long is
coordinating the speakers' programs and roundtables, and
anyone interested in participating is encouraged to contact
the Depot.
Because the
Dennison Depot played an important role during World War II
as a servicemen's canteen site, the festival always includes
activities surrounding World War II. Back this year
will be the World War II re-enactors, celebrity
impersonators, entertainment and a USO Dance to be held at
Immaculate Conception School at Dennison. The Ticker
Tape Parade, which is open to all veterans, will be held
Aug. 8 at 9 a.m. and will travel from Uhrichsville to
Dennison.
Commemorative
bricks will be for sale for the Wall's walkway. About
14,000 bricks will be needed to create the walkway and will
be imprinted with the message "The Vietnam Traveling
Memorial Wall, American Soldiers Homecoming, Dennison, Ohio,
August 2009." Bricks are being made at Bowerston
Shale. Brick sponsors will be able to take one of the
bricks home as a keepsake after the event.
The public
also can sponsor one of the 3,100 crosses at the cost of
$5.00 per cross. After the ceremony, the crosses will
be used to mark graves of veterans all over the county.
Proceeds from both the sale of bricks
and crosses will help underwrite the estimated $15,000 cost
of bringing the Wall to Tuscarawas County. To purchase
these, contact the Depot at 740-922-6776 or
depot@tusco.net.
Donations to help fund the Wall also are welcome.
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