Vietnam memorial arrives Monday
PLUMMER, Idaho – Frances White, who served in the U.S. Army in the decades between Vietnam and Desert Storm, is one of three women in the Coeur d’Alene Tribe’s Warrior Society.
On Friday afternoon, in pleasant sunshine, White shared a bench in front of Tribal Chairman Ernie Stensgar’s office. She had to see the chairman about getting a proper Warrior uniform. It was a big thing for White, because she would be among tribal members and military veterans who will staff the Traveling Wall Vietnam Memorial around the clock when it arrives on the reservation Monday for a four-day stay.
“I’m so happy it’s here. I’ve been wanting to see it and wanting to see it and my chance of ever seeing the actual Wall in D.C. is slim or none,” White said.
The Coeur d’Alene Tribe, with assistance from the Spokane and Colville Confederated tribes as well as area veterans groups, has arranged to bring the Traveling Wall to the Coeur d’Alene Casino near Worley. Opening ceremonies are scheduled for 5 p.m. Monday with Stensgar, himself a decorated Vietnam veteran, providing opening remarks.
“This is a dramatic step for us to take here,” Dave Matheson, chief executive officer for the casino, said in a news release. “We do it with pride and reverence toward those who have died in service to their country.”
The Traveling Wall is a fifth smaller in size than the Wall in Washington, D.C., but contains all the power of artist Maya Lin’s stark choice to avoid depictions of generals and prancing horses and instead to honor all the soldiers who fell during Vietnam by listing their names – more than 58,000.
“On that wall there are Native Americans, Asians, blacks, whites, Hispanics, Latinos. And you know what?” Stensgar asked. “They are all Americans. Politics was not a part of their agenda – they were 17, 18, 19 years old but decided to serve their country and did so with distinction and honor. This is a thank you.”
To Stensgar, the Wall is not a barrier but a bridge across time and geography.
The Wall is all about places like Macon, Miss., he said, a town of about 2,000 people along the Noxubee River. It’s about Seattle, and towns in Idaho even smaller than Plummer.
“My squad had people from all those areas, all coming together,” said Stensgar, who served as a Marine in Vietnam in 1966-67 and was awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded in combat. “I look at the Wall, and it brings out a lot of suppressed feelings. People who were over there have a lot of feelings that were just put away.”
White has never seen the Wall, but she has seen the baggage train of war.
“I am working on a poem about bringing the warriors home,” she said. “So many soldiers hold the war inside and they’ve never come home.”
Pausing, she jabbed a finger at the parking lot right in front of the bench where she was sitting. “Even here. Right here. I even see people right here who have never come home.”
White said the Traveling Wall has the power to open hearts.
“Veterans say just to see it, to touch it, to see a name of someone they know, it helps them find healing and closure,” White said. “I hope they get a chance to go out there and touch it and find the names of their buddies and realize the war is over and it’s time to come home.”