PALMDALE – The Mobile Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall for the Antelope Valley (AV Wall) will be on display tomorrow Friday, Nov. 9 at noon through Tuesday, Nov. 13 at 8 a.m. at the Palmdale Amphitheater, 2723 Rancho Vista Boulevard in Palmdale.
A Grand Opening Ceremony will take place Friday evening at 5 p.m.
Presented by Point Man Antelope Valley and the City of Palmdale, the public will have 24-hour access to the AV Wall while it is on display. Attendance to see the wall and to attend the special events is free and open to the public.
In addition to the Grand Opening Ceremony, the Antelope Valley Service Organization Association (AVSOA) will host its annual Veterans Day Ceremony at the AV Wall on Sunday, Nov. 11 at 11 a.m.
The Veterans Day Ceremony is moving from its traditional location at Desert Lawn Memorial Park this year only to coincide with the AV Wall Display.
Presentations will be led by this year’s Master of Ceremonies Bobby Breech, Chairman of AVSOA. Palmdale Mayor Jim Ledford will offer welcoming remarks. The ceremonies will include an invocation, posting of colors, Pledge of Allegiance, guest speakers, a rifle salute to veterans, and more.
To conclude the AV Wall display, there will be a Closing Ceremony observed on Monday Nov. 12 at 5 p.m.
The AV Wall is one of only two mobile walls that are engraved and the only one laid out in the same design as the original in Washington, D.C. Measuring approximately 250 feet long and 6 feet high at the apex, it contains the engraved names of all the 58,272 Vietnam veterans killed in action and missing in action.
From 2005 through 2009, over $100,000 was raised to build the wall. It was dedicated at a ceremony at Joe Davies Heritage Airpark at Palmdale Plant 42 on Nov. 13, 2009.
Point Man Antelope Valley are the guardians of the AV Wall and have dedicated a committee to oversee all aspects of the AV Wall.
For more information, call 661-524-6408 or visit www.avwall.org.
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