REFITTING OF THE WALL THAT HEALS MUSEUM TRAILER IS COMPLETE;
New Trailer Begins Its Journey to Washington, D.C. for March 26 Unveiling

Washington, D.C. – The Wall That Heals traveling replica and museum will begin its journey from Brighton, Mich. to Washington, D.C. on Saturday, March 21, to arrive in the nation’s capital in time for a March 26 unveiling, said Jan C. Scruggs, founder and president of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, sponsor of the traveling exhibit.

Created in 1996, The Wall That Heals is a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that is sponsored by the Memorial Fund. It is the only Wall replica that includes a traveling museum.

The trailer has been in Cresco, Iowa, since last December, at the facilities of Featherlite, the company that built the original trailer and has been working on the current overhaul. The goal was to provide a refurbished and improved trailer that would safely house the traveling replica and provide an aesthetically friendly environment for the exhibits.

The 45-foot aluminum trailer has six large display windows on one side and five on the other. When the replica has been unloaded, these windows are uncovered to reveal the exhibits. The recent improvements include making these exhibits weatherproof and shielding the display items from damaging ultraviolet rays. Also, changes were made to the interior of the trailer to transport the Wall panels safely and make maximum use of storage space.

The completely refurbished trailer left Iowa on March 13 and traveled to Brighton, Mich., to the facilities of Multiform Studios LLC, where the museum artifacts provided by the National Park Service’s Museum Resource Center are being installed in the trailer. The exhibits were created by Ralph Appelbaum Associates of New York City, a renowned exhibit design firm that is also creating the displays for the Education Center at The Wall: America’s Legacy of Service, an education and visitors center being built on the National Mall near the Lincoln and Vietnam Veterans Memorials.

The traveling museum displays feature some of the more than 100,000 items that have been left at The Wall since it was built in 1982, including the boots and dog tags worn in Vietnam by Jan Scruggs, who led the effort to build The Wall in 1982, as well as items left at The Wall That Heals. The exhibits also feature photos and biographical information on some of the more than 58,000 individuals whose names are on The Wall.

The Wall That Heals traveling museum will leave Michigan on Saturday and make its way to Washington, D.C., where the new trailer and museum exhibits will be unveiled in a ceremony on the National Mall at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, March 26.  Featherlite and Appelbaum representatives will be on hand at the ceremony, which will feature remarks by actor Tom Selleck; Memorial Fund President Jan Scruggs; Congressman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and many others.

The yearly tour schedule for The Wall That Heals, which spans from April to November this year and includes more than 20 stops, is made possible by these national sponsors: Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Charitable Trust; GEICO; Harley-Davidson Foundation; FedEx; New Century Transportation and Target Corporation. The March 26 ceremony is being sponsored by GEICO.

Established in 1979, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund is the nonprofit organization authorized by Congress to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Today, through a series of outreach programs, it is dedicated to preserving the legacy of The Wall, promoting healing, educating about the impact of the Vietnam War and is building The Education Center at The Wall underground near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.