The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

  • Home
  • Latest News
  • Local
    • Palmdale
    • Lancaster
    • Los Angeles County
    • Littlerock
    • Lake Los Angeles
    • Rosamond
    • Edwards AFB
    • Acton
  • Crime
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Business
  • Opinion
    • Advertise
    • About
    • Contact Us
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    Show Search

AV Wall display to celebrate D.C. Wall’s 35 years

by The AV Times Staff • November 3, 2017

Taps will be played at the AV Wall display each night at 10 p.m. [File]
PALMDALE – The City of Palmdale and Point Man Antelope Valley will host the Antelope Valley’s Mobile Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall (AV Wall) from Wednesday, Nov. 8, to Monday, Nov. 13, at the Palmdale Amphitheater, located at 2723 Rancho Vista Blvd.

The event will commemorate the 35th anniversary of the original Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

The Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. was dedicated Nov. 13, 1982, with an estimated 150,000 taking part in the ceremonies, including President Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy Reagan.

This year’s presentation of the AV Wall will run from 5 p.m. on Nov. 8 until 8 a.m. Nov. 13. The monument is open to the public around the clock during the display period. Admission is free.

A Veterans Day ceremony is planned for 11 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11. The ceremony will include a musical salute provided by the Guardian Brass, the Air National Guard Band of the West Coast. The keynote speaker will be Cold War veteran and Iraq War “embed” journalist Dennis Anderson. As a reporter for United Press International, Anderson covered the dedication of the Vietnam War Memorial in 1982.

A Candlelight Memorial Walk will take place at 9 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 11.

Taps will be played nightly at 10 p.m.

At 252 feet, the AV Wall is slightly more than half the length of the Washington wall. With 58,318 names of the American servicemen and women killed during the Vietnam War, the AV Wall is the nation’s most accurate tribute wall to the national memorial.

More than $102,000 for construction of the AV Wall was raised in a grass roots effort completed in 2009, with the largest contribution coming from school children during a “Pennies for Soldiers” fundraising drive. The Point Man Antelope Valley organization, a veterans talking and peer counseling group, was designated the “Guardians of the Wall.”

“It’s not our wall,” said Pointman Outpost Leader and Vietnam veteran Mike Bertell. “We are the guardians, but it’s everyone’s wall. Most walls keep people out. This wall brings people together.”

Sponsors include Signs and Designs, which constructed the wall and engraved the names; the City of Palmdale, Hunter Dodge Chrysler Jeep Ram, Hilton Garden Inn, and Green Valley Nursery.

For details, visit www.AVWALL.org or call 661-524-6408.

[Information via news release from the city of Palmdale.]

–

 

Filed Under: Palmdale

Recent Comments

  • Disgusted on LA Times accuses LACo Board of Supervisors of violating Brown Act: “I just want to ask, since when does the city allow sports leagues to run without non-profit or for profit…” Jun 4, 11:46
  • Swamp Gas on Readers Speak Out! (January 2023): “morning breeze” Jun 4, 11:36
  • Proud Anthonee Fauchee on Readers Speak Out! (January 2023): “explains why boebert and MTG make me wanna puke” Jun 4, 11:34
  • Tim Scott on Readers Speak Out! (January 2023): “Technically, it is more comparable to a courtyard than true external.” Jun 3, 18:02
  • Fredsie on Eight local students earn Memory Master Award: “They’re all white too!!” Jun 3, 13:53

Copyright © 2023 · The AV Times LLC. All rights reserved. Terms of Use