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Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall arrives

Replica will be on display for 4 days at Arvada church

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published June 18, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Motorcycles escort a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on I-25 as it heads for Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada on Tuesday. A vesper service will be held at the wall tonight.

Photo by Ken Papaleo / The Rocky

Motorcycles escort a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall on I-25 as it heads for Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada on Tuesday. A vesper service will be held at the wall tonight.

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Inspired by war, it's known as the "The Wall that Heals."

A replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall arrived Tuesday in the Denver area, escorted by a motorcade of about 50 bikers.

The 250-foot replica, featuring the names of U.S. military personnel who died in the Vietnam War, will be open to the public Thursday through Sunday at Faith Bible Chapel, 62nd Avenue and Ward Road in Arvada.

A 6:30 p.m. vesper service will be held today at the wall. For more details go to the church's Web site, fbci.org.

The wall tour marks the 40th anniversary of the Tet Offensive, a turning point in the Vietnam War.

Three other replicas also are touring the country - one was displayed recently in Keenesburg - but this is the only one sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which sponsored the original wall, according to Rod Ginn, a Faith Bible Chapel spokesman.

The original 493-foot memorial in Washington, D.C., was the winning design of Yale undergraduate Maya Ying Lin. The unknown architectural student won a 1980 national contest to design a Vietnam memorial.

It was a project that many Americans - and most Washington officials - despaired would never be popular, given the unpopularity of the war itself.

Instead, the wall has become a powerful memorial that has drawn millions of visitors over two decades.

Its stark list of names, which one critic hailed as "a magisterially simple design," moves many to weep and pray as their fingers linger over the carved name of a loved one.

torkelsonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5055

If you go

"The Wall that Heals" will appear at Faith Bible Chapel at 6210 Ward Road in Arvada from Thursday through Sunday. The exhibit is free and open 24 hours a day. For more information call 303-424-2121 or visit fbci.org.

* Tonight's kickoff event: Vesper service, followed by a talk by Vietnam missionary Paul Ai and reception for Vietnamese guests

* 8:15 P.M.: Prayer and dedication of wall

* About the wall display: The 250-foot, half-size replica has been to more than 300 cities and towns in the U.S. and Canada and has also gone to Ireland to honor Vietnam War dead who were born there. The display includes an information center and memorabilia left at the permanent memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.