(SEE VIDEOS AT BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE)
Hundreds of veterans were listening to Jim Scahill as he gave the keynote address at last night’s opening ceremony of the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall in Kittanning Riverfront Park.
The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall made its entrance into Kittanning shortly after 9AM yesterday morning to the sounds of sirens of both police and fire department escorts.
The motorcade began at the shopping center in East Franklin Township. From there, lead by the Kittanning Police cruiser and the Pennsylvania State Police vehicles, the motorcade traveled east on Route 422, taking the Kittanning exit and then up South Water Street. The Wall vehicle was surrounded by 50 motorcycles of veterans that represented the military. Kittanning Hose Company #1 provided traffic control as the motorcade traveled across Market Street, east on Vine Street, south on Grant Avenue, and finally west on Market Street. It turned onto South Water Street and traveled to its destination on the south side of Kittanning Riverfront Park.
Once in place, volunteers assembled the massive wall that is 3/5 scale to the original wall in Washington, D.C. Specific instructions prohibited the use of tobacco by volunteers during the Wall’s assembly as well as pins and any other objects worn on clothing in order that the Wall not be scratched. The 300-foot Wall faces the Allegheny River.
A large crowd of veterans and their families assembled at 6PM Thursday night for opening ceremonies. The Kittanning Firemen’s Band provided several musical selections prior to the ceremony and selected pieces during the ceremony.
The tower fire trucks from Kittanning Hose Co #1 and #6 held the American Flag during last night’s opening ceremony of the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall.
Armstrong County Commissioner Pat Fabian introduced the keynote speaker, First Lieutenant James Scahill. 11th Armor Cavalry, United States Army, who served in Vietnam.
Scahill gave numerous statistics. He told of his own physical battles he has endured because of his military service. He reached out to every veteran as he described the emotional difficulty he had when the wall was built in Washington, D.C. and he worked near it.
“It was right across the street. And I could not take the steps across the street. If it wasn’t for the moving wall here, I don’t know where I would be on that. But I found everybody I wanted to see (on the Wall) and I did it at 2:30 in the morning on the last night (it was in town). I didn’t want anyone near me. And a lot of you are like me. So folks, if someone says ‘I’ll be back in an hour,’ just let them go.”
Scahill said that although he had considered himself normal, the emotional trauma he felt in facing the names on the Wall proved to him that each veteran has post traumatic stress disorder in some fashion. It has caused many veterans to not speak of their tour of duty while others found solace in discussing it with other veterans.
The timing was coordinated to bring the Wall to Kittanning when Kittanning Hose Company #1 scheduled their 16th annual “Waves of Thunder” motorcycle event that begins tonight and continues through Sunday night.
Bringing the Wall to Kittanning was a collaboration of Hose Company #1 and VFW Post 4843 in Pattonville.
“We felt it important to pay our respects to veterans,” said Hose Company #1 event coordinator Kevin Kline. “That is why we reached out to the local Post here to see if they would be willing to co-sponsor the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall.”
The Wall is available 24 hours per day from now through Sunday night for visitors to come and experience it.