Forty-six years after Douglas Barton Green III was killed in Vietnam, Jennie Green sat among friends and neighbors to accept a folded flag in honor of her son who would never come home from war.
Tears fell amid the drizzle Sunday at a memorial ceremony for Green, the 1,307 Virginians and the more than 58,000 Americans who lost their lives in the Vietnam War.
The community gathered in front of The Wall That Heals, a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, which arrived Tuesday by the efforts of the local Combined Veterans Organizations Committee. They labored to bring the traveling exhibit here so veterans who might have struggled to face the memorial could do so in the comfort of their hometown.
The Wall That Heals also offered a place for residents to remember loved ones lost in the war and — through the exhibit’s museum component — for citizens of all ages to learn about the past.
The Wall That Heals opened officially Thursday at 326 Francis St. in front of the Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, cosponsored by the City of Williamsburg, James City County and York County.
There will be a closing ceremony at 3 p.m. today with remarks by City of Williamsburg Mayor Clyde Haulman.
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