Wall recalling Vietnam’s fallen starts area visit

6/5/2013

The Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall will begin its local visit when it arrives at Toledo Express Airport at about 1 p.m. today.

At 3 p.m., a caravan of about 1,000 motorcycles will escort the wall to International Park, where it will be on display from noon Thursday through Sunday afternoon.

The Toledo Police Department, the Lucas County Sheriff’s Office, the Maumee Police Department, and the Ohio Highway Patrol will implement special traffic control measures during the delivery of the wall to the park, Toledo Police Chief Derrick Diggs said.

The escorted wall will leave the airport traveling east on Airport Highway to Eber Road, then south on Eber to U.S. 20A, inbound to Ford Street in Maumee to the Anthony Wayne Trail.

On the Trail, the wall will proceed to Erie Street in downtown Toledo.

It will then travel from Erie to Cherry Street, and Cherry across the Martin Luther King Bridge to International Park, its final destination.

Individual intersections along this route may be tied up from 10 to 20 minutes, authorities said.

The wall exhibit, which includes the name of every soldier killed in the Vietnam War, is one of several events planned throughout the week to honor veterans of the country’s most controversial war.

The Vietnam Era Veterans Appreciation week — today through Sunday — kicks off at 7 p.m., today with a “Welcome Home Celebration and Honor Roll Call” at Savage Hall on the campus of the University of Toledo.

The event is free and open to the public.

The Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall is a smaller replica of the permanent Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.