Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund & Chicago Cubs Partner to Honor Vietnam Veterans

Washington, D.C. – Etched into the black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC are 2,938 service members from Illinois who gave all for their country.  Of those names, 1,337 are from Cook County, 954 directly from Chicago.

This Thursday, July 14, Vietnam Veterans will be honored by the Chicago Cubs with a pre-game, on-field ceremony featuring Vietnam Veterans and Community Leaders.  From July 14-17, two panels of The Wall That Heals, a half-scale replica of “The Wall” in Washington, DC, will be on display outside of Wrigley Field along Clark Street.  These two panels include 36 names of Chicagoans who served and fell in Vietnam.  Also on display will be the Mobile Education Center showcasing artifacts left at The Wall, educational displays and timelines regarding the era, touch screens to search for names on The Wall, and a digital Virtual Wall to leave messages and stories about those on The Wall you may know.

VVMF asks that anyone with a photograph of a service member killed while serving in the Vietnam War bring the photo to the event.  These photos will be digitally scanned as part of VVMF’s Call For Photos – the campaign to collect a picture of each of the 58,272 service members listed on The Wall.  Of the 954 names on The Wall from Chicago proper, only 76 photos have been collected to date – leaving 878 left to find.  Collected photos will be displayed at the Education Center at The Wall – a state of the art facility to be built on the National Mall in Washington DC to educate visitors on the values of service of America’s armed forces and the history of the Vietnam War.

** To view coverage from this event please click here