Escort ushers AV Wall into Palmdale Amphitheater
PALMDALE — With a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department escort and accompanied by dozens of motorcycles and cars, many decked out in American flags, the Mobile Vietnam Memorial Wall, also known as the AV Wall, arrived for display, Wednesday morning, at the Palmdale Amphitheater.
The monument, a halfscale replica of the black granite Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall on the National Mall in Washington, will be open to the public 24 hours a day during the display. It opened at 5 p.m., on Wednesday.
Some of the 100 volunteers were on hand, Wednesday morning, to assemble the panels that create the wall.
Many of those hauling the structure and wall panels from the trailer and installing them are veterans.
“I do this because it’s important we honor our fallen Vietnam vets,” Army veteran and Vice Commander of American Legion Post 348 Ralph Velador said. “It’s the least we can do.”
Not all the helpers were veterans, or even adults. Joshua Saylor, a Marine Corps veteran, was on hand with the eager assistance of his two children, 9-year-old Jocelyn and 6-year-old Jaymeson.
“They both chose to take the day off school to help,” he said.
When asked how they liked the work, the children said, “It’s very fun.”
The base in which the panels are set was laid out in preparation, on Monday, before the rain came, AV Wall Committee Volunteer Coordinator Stacia Nemeth said.
The nonprofit organization behind the display faced a setback, this year, however, when a second trailer carrying the support materials — a donated wooden base, benches, cabling, up-lights and
other goods — was stolen, in September.
“That made Monday a challenge,” Nemeth said. “We called it ‘going oldschool,’ the way the group used to in the earliest days of the project, now 13 years old.”
Staff from the AV Fairgrounds helped fill in the gaps from the stolen goods by donating benches for use during the display. Henisey Electric provided the up-lights and cabling for the 24-hour display.
The theme of this year’s display is “About the Wall — Facts and Faces” and will provide the opportunity for visitors to learn facts about the memorial, itself, and to see the faces of those whose names are engraved there.
The display will continue at the Palmdale Amphithe- ater through Nov. 13. Taps will be played each night, at 9 p.m.
This is the first time the AV Wall has been displayed locally, since 2019.
Thousands of people from across Southern California have visited the AV Wall, locally and at displays elsewhere, since it was dedicated, in 2009.
The AV Wall caretaker is Point Man Antelope Valley, an organization that takes the Wall throughout Southern California with the mission of educating, inspiring and healing all who visit the memorial.