‘It’ll be a significant emotional event': The Wall That Heals comes to West Michigan, honors Vietnam Vets

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. — Before the The Wall That Heals semi-truck made its trip to Harper Creek High School on Tuesday, it was parked at Galesburg-Augusta Elementary School. It was scheduled to hit the road at 2 p.m. But, before it did, over 400 motorcycles filled the parking lot ready to escort it to its destination.

“We are going to escort The Wall That Heals, the three-quarter replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., we’re going to escort that from Galesburg, along the route to Augusta, all through Urbandale, Battle Creek, right on out to Harper Creek, the soccer complex at the Harper Creek High School,” said retired United States Air Force Col. Frank Walker. “So, there’s a lot of motorcycles that will be doing the escorting.”

A few minutes after 2 p.m., hundreds of motorcycles roared through the streets of Kalamazoo and Calhoun Counties. Over an hour and a half later, they all arrived at Harper Creek, greeted by dozens of residents who lined the streets waving American flags.

“I know that in Calhoun County alone there’s 44 names on the wall,” Col. Walker said. “Just to have this in our own community, I always tell folks some of our veterans can’t make it to Washington D.C. They can’t afford it. And, there’s others that can go there but they can’t walk the wall because its too emotional for them.”

Now, it’ll be at Harper Creek soccer fields from Thursday July 14 through Sunday, said Col. Walker. They’ll pull the wall out of the semi-truck and set it up like an exhibit.

And, he said it’s free and open to the public.

“You can come and visit it at 3 o’clock in the morning,” Col. Walker said. “We have a lot of our veterans that have PTSD. They want time alone. They want to reflect. They don’t want a crowd around them.”

For the few hours that it was in Galesburg, dozens of people took pictures of the truck.

Terri Sutherland, of Battle Creek, was one of them. Her husband organized part of the bike ride, bringing in over 30 people with them.

“In today’s world I think it’s a great idea that we remember our past, so the same mistakes aren’t made in the future. I was in high school when the Vietnam War started and a lot of kids were drafted. My husband happened to volunteer and there were a lot of other volunteers,” Sutherland said. “The war itself was not a good war. It shouldn’t have happened. But, here we are.”

Sutherland said she visited the original Wall in Washington D.C. and said the replica is equally emotional. She recommended everyone see it.

“I think you should support every [service], not just the Army but all of the service people,” Sutherland said. 

Col. Walker agreed.

He said getting the wall to Southwest Michigan was a year in the making. The Calhoun County Red, White, and Blue Foundation helped. Nevertheless, he’s grateful it’s here so people can heal and pay their respects.

“This is a way to say thank you to our Vietnam Veterans, the 700-800,000 that are still alive,” Col. Walker said. “It’s an educational process and a patriotic process. I mean, you’ll see the flags and it’s just amazing. I assure you, I assure you, it’ll be a significant emotional event in your life.”