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Members of Hopkins County veterans organizations were present at the Thursday reading of the proclamation celebrating The Wall That Heals. Holding the proclamation is Hopkins County Veterans Memorial Committee Treasurer Mandy Kennedy. Staff photo by Todd Kleiboer
Dates set for Nov. 4-7, 2021
“Blown away” was Mandy Kennedy’s reaction when she learned The Wall That Heals, an exhibit featuring a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, was scheduled to stop in Sulphur Springs Nov. 4-7, 2021.
“Bringing this [exhibit] here is twofold,” Kennedy, who is the treasurer of the Hopkins County Veterans Memorial Committee, said. “Not just for the wall itself, but also to show what our community thinks of our veterans.”
A proclamation was read by Hopkins County Judge Robert Newsom Thursday afternoon to cement the fact, and Kennedy said the local veterans organizations were “pumped” to have the exhibit.
“This is really something special, but it wouldn’t have happened without Mandy Kennedy,” Newsom said in addition. “It wouldn’t have happened without Mandy, Danny [Davis], and the many other people working on this.”
The exhibit will be installed at the Sulphur Springs High School track and will feature not only the replica wall but a mobile education center that will display photos of service members who list their home of record from the local area as well as other collections. The Wall is three-quarter scale of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
“Hopkins County welcomes the replica displayed as standing seven-and-a-half feet tall at its tallest point and 375 feet in length,” the proclamation read. “Visitors will experience The Wall rising above them as they walk towards the apex.”
This was the committee’s first application to host The Wall Heals, Kennedy said, and the City of Sulphur Springs and Sulphur Springs ISD jumped in to organize and sponsor the exhibit.
“We applied in May, and we gave them four dates [for the exhibit],” Kennedy said. “We got our first-choice, which everybody wants the weekends before and after Veterans Day. For us to be chosen on our application is just a miracle.”
The exhibit will be free to all attendees, and Kennedy encouraged school districts to bus in groups to take educational tours to be offered there.
“The staff for The Wall That Heals will do 30- to 45-minute tours for all the schoolchildren that want to come in and learn about it,” Kennedy said. “It’s an interactive, educational classroom that talks about the Vietnam War, the political climate and the history of it.”
Sulphur Springs is the only Texas location for The Wall That Heals and the second-to-last stop, according to the tour schedule. The next closest stops are in Murfreesboro, Tenn., which is the last stop for 2021, and Marysville, Kan.
“We’re hoping to pull in anybody that wants to come from Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, anybody that wants to make a trip here,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy thanked both the city and SSISD for their support, and she thanked community member Carol Gunn Vernon for a generous donation made to the committee that alleviated the financial worry of hosting the exhibit.
“I know our community would have done it. That’s just what Hopkins County, Sulphur Springs and all the surrounding areas do for the veterans,” Kennedy said. “What this means is that we can use whatever is donated to supplement or enhance the exhibit.”