The Wall That Heals makes its way to Mohegan Sun lot
Veterans Day came early this year.
It arrived in the region Wednesday, heralded by a parade of flag-festooned motorcycles, vintage cars and fire apparatuses that led a tractor-trailer carrying a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial through New London, Quaker Hill and Montville.
The Wall That Heals, as the half-scale replica of the memorial in Washington, D.C., is known, reached the Winter Parking Lot at Mohegan Sun shortly before noon. The 250-foot wall was erected in the lot for a “soft” opening later in the day and will remain there through Sunday.
Mohegan Tribal Chairman Kevin Brown, a retired Army colonel, was on hand to greet the procession.
“There’s 611 Connecticut names on the wall,” Brown said. “It feels right to bring it here.”
Mohegan Sun celebrated Veterans Day a year ago with “Vets Rock,” a multi-day event featuring a veterans’ career fair and a concert and is doing it again this weekend.
“It’s the end of a one-year recognition of the 50-year anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War,” Brown said.
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, the nonprofit that founded the original memorial, which was dedicated in 1982, fields about 90 requests a year for visits by The Wall That Heals, according to Patrick O’Neill, the replica wall’s site manager.
“We can do about 40,” he said.
Host sites must have the space to accommodate the wall and be able to provide volunteers who can set it up and staff it 24 hours a day. Like the actual wall, The Wall That Heals bears the names of the more than 58,000 men and women who gave their lives during the conflict or still are missing.
The exterior sides of the trailer that carries the wall open into a Mobile Education Center. Information cases display photos of service members whose names are found on the wall, along with letters and memorabilia left at the wall in Washington, D.C.
The Wall That Heals traveled to New London from its previous stop in Leominster, Mass., O’Neill said. After the Mohegan Sun appearance, it will travel to Woodstock, Ga., and Groveland, Fla., its final stops of the year.
Mike’s Famous Harley Davidson provided a staging area for the wall, and it was there, at 941 Bank St., that the motorcyclists assembled Wednesday morning.
Mike Schwartz, owner of Mike’s Famous, said motorcycles and veterans have long had a deep connection.
“It’s about freedom, the right to choose where you go and what you do,” he said. “We’re glad our community has an opportunity to participate in this.”
Motorcyclists from the Connecticut chapter of the Patriot Guard Riders led the procession, which included vehicles from the Goshen, Taftville, Chesterfield and New London fire departments. Members of the Riders, an all-volunteer, nonprofit organization, show up at memorial services honoring the military, first responders and honorably discharged veterans.
“We do it because it’s the right thing to do,” said Mac McArthur of Haddam, state captain of the Riders. “We let veterans and their families know they’re not forgotten.”
A ceremony marking the official start of the wall’s display will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday. The veterans career fair and concert will take place Friday.
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