Traveling Vietnam War Memorial Replica Makes a Stop in Rice

RICE -- A traveling replica of a national memorial is in central Minnesota this weekend.

The Wall That Heals, a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., has made a stop at Rice Elementary School. Like the real memorial, the replica includes the names of more than 58,000 Vietnam veterans who lost their lives or remain missing.

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Site Manager Tim Tetz says the goal of the exhibit is to honor, preserve, and educate, while also bringing healing to communities across the country.

Every single weekend basically from March until November we're in a new community bringing the healing and reflective nature of the wall to the communities.

Rice is the only Minnesota stop on the 2021 tour. In addition to the wall, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF) also has a mobile education center that features statistics, local history, and artifacts from the war that have been left at the memorial.

Tetz says The Wall That Heals has been traveling the United States since 1996, but the larger scale and mobile unit were added in 2018.

The Wall That Heals is open 24/7 until 2:00 p.m. Sunday when the exhibit is broken down and taken on to its next stop in Marysville, Kansas. There is no cost to visit.