Garner’s Tony Warren, a medic in Vietnam, is featured in an iconic Vietnam photograph. Warren is on the ground with a bandaged comrade. Warren is peering into the distance during a fire fight on June 15, 1967.
The Garner community had eight men killed in the Vietnam War and dozens of others in the community served in Vietnam.
The local organizing committee of The Wall That Heals’ visit to Garner is trying to assemble a list of all the community men and women who served in Vietnam. If you served or know of someone in the community who served, please email timstevens710@gmail.com.
“We have the stories of about 40 men from the area who served in Vietnam,” said Tim Stevens, the president of Show N Tell Ministries, which is organizing the wall’s display in Garner.
“But we know that we are missing a lot of Vietnam veterans. We’d like to talk to as many as possible. We plan to have a display at the wall about our local Vietnam veterans.”
The Wall That Heals
The Wall That Heals is a traveling ¾ scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. More than 130 communities made bids to host the wall in 2019 and Garner was among the 34 communities who were selected.
The wall will be at Garner’s Lake Benson Park on April 16 through 19. The wall lists the name of each of the 58,276 Americans who perished during the Vietnam conflict.
The wall is almost 400 feet long and is 7.5 feet tall at its highest point. Once the 140 panels are erected, the wall will be open and staffed 24 hours a day. An LED lighting system ensures that each name is visible at night.
Each name is engraved on the Avonite panels and visitors can do name rubbings.
The wall is accompanied by a mobile Education Center. Garner also plans to have a tent where the stories of our community men will be displayed.
“Last spring, when we presented “Duty,” a play about Garner and Vietnam, we displayed more than three dozen pictures and stories of our community men in Vietnam,” Stevens said. “We would like to add more stories and pictures for the display at the wall.”
Garner’s Tony Warren, a medic in Vietnam, is featured in an iconic Vietnam photograph. Warren is on the ground with a bandaged comrade. Warren is peering into the distance during a fire fight on June 15, 1967.
The photograph was used in Ken Burns’ documentary about Vietnam and was published newspapers throughout the country.
“The picture is certainly worth 1,000 words, but all of the pictures that we have assembled tell their story,” Stevens said. “We want to tell our community’s Vietnam story as well as to honor all those who perished.”
If you served in Vietnam, please contact Tim Stevens at timstevens710@gmail.com.