The Wall That Heals escorted by hundreds
By Bruce Rolfe
The spirit behind the meaning of The Wall That Heals showed up in a big way when a police escort along with hundreds of motorcycles left the Galesburg-Augusta High School parking lot August 18 and made its way through Augusta and Battle Creek before ending at the Harper Creek soccer field in Battle Creek where the exhibit was open August 20-23.
The mission of The Wall That Heals is to honor and remember those who served in the Vietnam War by bringing a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and a mobile Education Center to communities across the nation, offering healing, reflection, and education to all who visit.
The Calhoun County Red White Blue Foundation, which hosted a similar Wall That Heals exhibit in 2022, hosted the exhibit again.
Red White Blue Foundation member Roger Smith of Climax said 321 motorcycles and their riders participated in the escort.
The Wall That Heals exhibit includes a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial along with a mobile Education Center. The traveling exhibit honors the more than three million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in the Vietnam War, and it bears the names of the 58,281 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.
General Robert Secrist said the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund contacted the Calhoun County Red White Blue Foundation last November and asked the group to host the event again.
“The reason we’re having it is a tribute, remembrance, honor for the Veterans who sacrificed in Vietnam and gave their lives and those that served. So it’s an opportunity to give back.
It’s also an opportunity for families. To find out the kind of sacrifices these people did for us and this country,” said Secrist.
The spirit behind the meaning of The Wall That Heals showed up in a big way when a police escort along with hundreds of motorcycles left the Galesburg-Augusta High School parking lot August 18 and made its way through Augusta and Battle Creek before ending at the Harper Creek soccer field in Battle Creek where the exhibit was open August 20-23.
The mission of The Wall That Heals is to honor and remember those who served in the Vietnam War by bringing a traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and a mobile Education Center to communities across the nation, offering healing, reflection, and education to all who visit.
The Calhoun County Red White Blue Foundation, which hosted a similar Wall That Heals exhibit in 2022, hosted the exhibit again.
Red White Blue Foundation member Roger Smith of Climax said 321 motorcycles and their riders participated in the escort.
The Wall That Heals exhibit includes a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial along with a mobile Education Center. The traveling exhibit honors the more than three million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces in the Vietnam War, and it bears the names of the 58,281 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.
General Robert Secrist said the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund contacted the Calhoun County Red White Blue Foundation last November and asked the group to host the event again.
“The reason we’re having it is a tribute, remembrance, honor for the Veterans who sacrificed in Vietnam and gave their lives and those that served. So it’s an opportunity to give back.
It’s also an opportunity for families. To find out the kind of sacrifices these people did for us and this country,” said Secrist.
Secrist said The Wall That Heals has significant meaning to him since he served in the military during the Vietnam War.
“I feel very emotional about this because I was in the service at that time. Today, when our Veterans walk through the halls at the airport, people say thank you, thank you. Thank you for your service. When we came back from Vietnam, our response that we received were eggs, demonstrations and riots against those who had sacrificed their lives for us so we can have liberty and freedom in this country,” said Secrist.
One rider, who rode with her daughter, said she wanted to participate in the escort because “it’s for the veterans.”
Jonathon Barnes, who serves on the Calhoun County Red, White & Blue Foundation Board and leads the In Memory Program for the group’s Steering Committee that brought The Wall That Heals to Battle Creek in 2022 and again in 2026, said he was very happy to see the public’s positive reaction to The Wall That Heals escort and exhibit.
“I think the greatest thing is what we learned in 2022 is just seeing the people that came out to do the welcome home that these veterans deserved years ago, and they didn’t receive when they came home from Vietnam,” said Barnes, who was in the lead vehicle of the escort.
Smith, who helped organize the escort, said it was very uplifting to see so much support behind the escort and what The Wall That Heals stands for.
“For me, it’s awesome. I absolutely love seeing all these brothers and sisters coming together for Vietnam veterans and the ones that passed away through the war. It just means everything to me. I really push hard for anything for a veteran, but Vietnam was forgotten. But we’re trying to make sure that it’s not going to die. We want to make sure that everybody knows what happened in Vietnam. That these people gave their lives so that we can live the way we live,” said Smith, who also participated in the motorcycle escort.
Smith, who volunteered to help the Red White Blue Foundation when The Wall That Heal exhibit came to Battle Creek in 2022, said he feels the public is very thankful to have an opportunity to remember loved ones and those that served in Vietnam.
“We have so much emotion going through that wall. We have people that were there, lost friends and had a hard time getting to the Wall, had a hard time walking through the Wall.
We will walk with them, we will take our time. We will do whatever it takes so they can see the name they want to see, All the feedback has been absolutely positive now. I’m glad people have finally got it in their heads that these are American people, American soldiers. And they need to be addressed as such and they need to be treated with a whole much more dignity than what they got when they came back,” adds Smith.
Spectators who came to G-A High School or sat along the escort route could be seen waving at the motorcycle riders, the police, lead vehicles and The Wall That Heals semi as they went by. There were American flags along the route as well.
G-A School Board President Jessica Eberstein felt The Wall That Heals escort unified the community and reinforces the importance of remembering those that have served and continue to serve.
“I think it’s great. It gets the community together. It’s nice to see all the veterans. The number of motorcycles that are out today is truly amazing,” said Eberstein.
Barnes said there are hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans that can’t make it to Washington, D.C. where the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is located, “so we kind of have the motto, we’re bringing The Wall to them.”
“I feel very emotional about this because I was in the service at that time. Today, when our Veterans walk through the halls at the airport, people say thank you, thank you. Thank you for your service. When we came back from Vietnam, our response that we received were eggs, demonstrations and riots against those who had sacrificed their lives for us so we can have liberty and freedom in this country,” said Secrist.
One rider, who rode with her daughter, said she wanted to participate in the escort because “it’s for the veterans.”
Jonathon Barnes, who serves on the Calhoun County Red, White & Blue Foundation Board and leads the In Memory Program for the group’s Steering Committee that brought The Wall That Heals to Battle Creek in 2022 and again in 2026, said he was very happy to see the public’s positive reaction to The Wall That Heals escort and exhibit.
“I think the greatest thing is what we learned in 2022 is just seeing the people that came out to do the welcome home that these veterans deserved years ago, and they didn’t receive when they came home from Vietnam,” said Barnes, who was in the lead vehicle of the escort.
Smith, who helped organize the escort, said it was very uplifting to see so much support behind the escort and what The Wall That Heals stands for.
“For me, it’s awesome. I absolutely love seeing all these brothers and sisters coming together for Vietnam veterans and the ones that passed away through the war. It just means everything to me. I really push hard for anything for a veteran, but Vietnam was forgotten. But we’re trying to make sure that it’s not going to die. We want to make sure that everybody knows what happened in Vietnam. That these people gave their lives so that we can live the way we live,” said Smith, who also participated in the motorcycle escort.
Smith, who volunteered to help the Red White Blue Foundation when The Wall That Heal exhibit came to Battle Creek in 2022, said he feels the public is very thankful to have an opportunity to remember loved ones and those that served in Vietnam.
“We have so much emotion going through that wall. We have people that were there, lost friends and had a hard time getting to the Wall, had a hard time walking through the Wall.
We will walk with them, we will take our time. We will do whatever it takes so they can see the name they want to see, All the feedback has been absolutely positive now. I’m glad people have finally got it in their heads that these are American people, American soldiers. And they need to be addressed as such and they need to be treated with a whole much more dignity than what they got when they came back,” adds Smith.
Spectators who came to G-A High School or sat along the escort route could be seen waving at the motorcycle riders, the police, lead vehicles and The Wall That Heals semi as they went by. There were American flags along the route as well.
G-A School Board President Jessica Eberstein felt The Wall That Heals escort unified the community and reinforces the importance of remembering those that have served and continue to serve.
“I think it’s great. It gets the community together. It’s nice to see all the veterans. The number of motorcycles that are out today is truly amazing,” said Eberstein.
Barnes said there are hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans that can’t make it to Washington, D.C. where the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is located, “so we kind of have the motto, we’re bringing The Wall to them.”
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