Traveling Vietnam Wall Spent Five Phenomenal Days in Faribault

Closing ceremonies were held Monday for the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall on the Rice County Fairgrounds in Faribault.

Vietnam veteran Wayne Staab of Faribault served in the U.S. Marine Corps. The sergeant served 13 months in Vietnam and was wounded in combat.

Staab told a large crowd gathered for the closing ceremonies his unit moved around a lot and was close to the demilitarized zone. He started his sharing by saying, "I am so proud right now to stand here in front of our heroes."

Staab said to him the Wall coming to Faribault means, "Bringing some respect to all those names on the Wall and to all my brothers and sisters who were treated badly when they came home."

The Vietnam War veteran said he met a lot of people over the Wall visit to Faribault and every one of them had a story,

He shared assisting a 91-year-old man who served in Korea and Vietnam and wanted to find a name of one of his buddies. Staab assisted the man getting out of a golf cart with two canes and "he touched the name and fell to his knees and began to cry uncontrollably."

Staab said people came over asking if they could assist and he assured them he would help the man. He said when he took him back to his vehicle, "this frail man hugged me so hard and said thank you for getting me through this."

Staab went on to say after making sure he was OK, the man said, "welcome home friend and gave me a $20 bill to put in the donation box and judging by the vehicle he was driving that $20 meant an awful lot."

The Faribault Vietnam veteran talked about assisting a man slumped over the steering wheel of his truck crying "profoundly" who told him he finally had the strength to visit his seven buddies on the wall and just needed time to cry for them. When Staab returned to pick up another person the man gave him the thumbs up before driving away.

Staab's final story was of assisting a 91-year-old woman who wanted to see the name of her son on the Wall. She was from Illinois and in the area visiting and told him she would never be able to go to "the big city," meaning Washington. D.C.

After returning to her vehicle she said, "thank you sonny and kissed me on my cheek. I just about lost it. I have many more stories like this from the last few days."

"I remember the first time I went to the Wall and how hard it was to see my buddies. The names on the Wall and all the people around me that helped me get through this. I love helping people work their way through this, especially the elderly."

Staab thanked the organizers of the event, the community for its support and volunteers for their work and ended by saying, "and to my Vietnam buddies, welcome home."

Faribault American Legion Chaplain Kirk Mansfield continued sharing many stories of visits he had with people from all over who came to see the Wall.

Mansfield pleaded with the Vietnam veterans in attendance to assist soldiers coming home from the Middle East.

He noted, "Twenty two veterans and one active duty service member are committing suicide every single day.  And as a Vietnam veteran you know the hell they're going through. Reach out to these kids. Get in there. Pull them through the fire. You are obligated. They don't need drugs. Vietnam vets know the answer. You got through it."

Color Guard units from Faribault, Northfield and Kenyon were at the closing event and the U.S. flag that flew over the Wall was given to co-chair Virginia Van Sluis for having the idea to make the dream of bringing the Wall to Faribault a reality and the POW/MIA flag was given to Faribault Vietnam vet Steve Bauer, who choked back tears as he stepped forward to receive it.

I stuck around and helped take the Wall down and in about an hour scores of guys working as a team were able to get it back in its trailer and on the road to the next stop.

Organizers told me they estimate about 25,000 people visited the Wall during its stay in Faribault.

I don't know how many chairs and benches we set up, but I do know they were all filled along with two bleachers, and many people also stood during the closing ceremony, which lasted just over an hour.