Thank you
Thank you for showing up.
Four days at Blue Tip Park. A wall carrying 58,281 names, and a town that never once let it stand there alone.
People came at two in the morning. That is the part we keep talking about. Whatever hour you drove past, somebody was there.
Veterans found names they had been carrying for fifty years. Grandparents showed grandchildren how to lay the paper flat and work the pencil across it. Plenty of folks drove in from a couple hours out, stood quietly for twenty minutes without saying much to anybody, and drove home.
Wadsworth was one of thirty-one communities in the country chosen to host The Wall That Heals this year. We are still a little stunned it was us.
The people who made it possible
Nobody did this alone.
Our volunteers. You directed traffic in the heat. You took the overnight shifts nobody sees. You helped people find a name on a panel when they were too shaken to look properly. Some of you signed up months out and some of you just walked up and asked what needed doing. Either way, every hour of every day got covered, and anyone who has tried to staff something around the clock knows that does not happen by itself.
Our sponsors. You gave money, time, equipment, and space for something you could not really put a logo on. There are too many of you to list without leaving somebody out, which is a good problem to have. All of it went into the same four days.
The committee. A group of neighbors turned an idea into this. Most people will never know how many phone calls that took, and that is probably how you all prefer it.
And the City of Wadsworth, our fire and police departments, the veterans organizations, the churches, the businesses, and everyone who lent us something or moved something or just made room. Thank you.
Moments
The photos people took.
Most of these were posted publicly during the event by people who were there. The escort coming through town. The ladder truck flying the flag over the route. Firefighters standing at attention. The panels lit up after dark.
They are here so anyone who was part of it can come back and find it again.
Photographs shared publicly by visitors, volunteers, and neighbors during the event. If one of these is yours and you would like it removed or credited, please contact us.
Stories
In their own words.
People have started sending us what those four days meant to them.
This was one of the most meaningful volunteer experience I have ever had. It was an honor to meet the gentleman who played Taps every evening (David) and hear his remarkable stories.
I had a teenage girl come up to me looking for a name on the wall and I was able to find it on the app and walk her to the exact location, and it was surprisingly emotional.
The organization did an amazing job of providing shirts and food to the volunteers. The experience brought the community together and everyone treated each other with kindness, gentleness, and respect.
The Wall looked like it had always been there at our park, the location could not have been more perfect. It was an extraordinary sight to behold at night.
I knew very little about the Vietnam War so the volunteer orientation was so helpful in teaching the history and also the significance of every symbolic detail of the Wall’s design.
Everyone needs moments in life to stop and pause from the busyness of life and focus on the sacrifices of others and how blessed we are to live in this wonderful country. I was so grateful to be a part of this experience and thank everyone who made it possible.
My dad served as a Marine in the Vietnam war. He passed away in January 2026 from treatment related to his lung cancer. He served as Quartermaster of the Mogadore VFW for over 40 years. I was and am so very proud of him.
I visited The Wall to see his name and pic on the In Memory digital display. I miss him terribly.
Thank you for bringing The Wall to help educate all the generations that came after so that they can understand the sacrifice that these men and women made for their country. Rest easy soldiers. You have more than earned it.
The Wall has moved on
What it left is still here.
By now The Wall is standing in another town, doing for those families what it did for ours. That is how it works and that is how it should be.
What stays with Wadsworth is four days of a town taking care of something, and taking care of each other.
To every Vietnam veteran who walked that path: welcome home. You were owed that a long time ago. This town meant it.
This page is not going anywhere. Come back whenever you want.