Rock Falls dedicates Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall plaque during Memorial Day service

ROCK FALLS – A Memorial Day service in Rock Falls on Monday featured the dedication of a Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall plaque and a gun salute honoring all who died while serving.

Sauk Valley veterans and residents on Monday dedicated the plaque memorializing the traveling wall’s visit last fall. It is located in the same place the traveling wall stood from Aug. 31 to Sept. 3, 2023, in the RB&W District.

City officials at that time estimated 7,000 people visited the RB&W District to see the traveling wall, which lists 58,307 names appearing by date in the order in which they were killed during the Vietnam War. The traveling wall is three-fifths the scale of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C., stands 6 feet tall at the center and covers almost 300 feet from end to end; its mission is to help provide healing and a place to reflect on the lives lost in the Vietnam War.

Healing and remembrance also are the reasons the new plaque was erected. The plaque’s inscription reads: “To remember, reflect, and to heal while honoring those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom during the Vietnam Conflict. The Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall at this site August 31-September 3, 2023.”

Listed at the bottom of the plaque are the city of Rock Falls, Rock Falls Tourism, Rock Falls American Legion Post 902, Rock Falls VFW Post 5418 and Sterling American Legion Post 296.

“It was decided to place a plaque here as a reminder of how we came together to remember, reflect and heal while honoring those who paid the ultimate price for freedom during the Vietnam Conflict,” Rock Falls Tourism Director Melinda Jones said during Monday’s dedication service.

She said that when the traveling wall was set up, people brought many items and flowers to leave there. Some of those items were collected and are in a case at the Rock Falls American Legion. Flowers, notes and other such items were turned into ash and on Monday were poured on the ground around the new plaque’s base.

Rock Falls American Legion Chaplain Wilbur Wildman explained the significance of the items placed at the traveling wall and the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

“Since Nov. 11, 1982, when the Vietnam Memorial Wall was dedicated, visitors have found a certain peace at the wall,” he said. “They leave offerings, flowers, flags, messages and items whose significance is known only to the giver.”

Wildman also read Nancy Reagan’s message to Vietnam veterans – and how they will be forever loved and never forgotten – which he said goes out to all who lost their lives while serving the nation. An Honor Guard gun salute and the playing of taps followed.

During her remarks, Jones also thanked everyone who helped bring the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall to Rock Falls in 2023, a process that began in January 2022. In doing research about a potential visit, Jones found there are four Vietnam traveling walls. She applied for one to come to Rock Falls, learning the company she selected receives about 300 applications a year from cities asking for a visit from that wall. Of those applicants, only 18 are selected for a wall visit in any particular year.