Posted on Jan 4, 2016
by Brian Johnson
BRISTOL — Dates have been confirmed for the return to Bristol of the Vietnam Traveling Wall That Heals. Its last visit was 18 years ago.
The half-scale installation will be here June 9 through 12, honoring those who gave their lives in the Vietnam War.
American Legion Post 2 Commander Russ Trudel said the wall last came to Bristol in 1998, attracting tens of thousands of people. The traveling exhibition, sponsored by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation — which maintains the Vietnam War memorial in Washington — will be displayed on Memorial Boulevard nearby the city’s permanent war monuments.
“This will provide people with a time to come and reflect upon the sacrifices made during the Vietnam War,” said Trudel. “I have been to Washington, D.C., many times, and they have a beautiful monument there, but not everybody has the time or finances to make the trip. I first applied back in August 2014, hoping that I could arrange its coming to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the start of the Vietnam War in 2015, but they were booked solid. The wall only visits 35 towns in the nation each year, so I immediately reapplied for this year.”
Post 2 will hold a meeting Saturday at 3 p.m. at 22 Hooker Court to plan events for the time the wall is here.
“We would like to have the American Legion Riders escort the truck carrying the wall through the state and we would like to see other local veterans organizations become involved,” said Trudel. “I have reached out to the Bristol Veterans Council and Legions from surrounding towns and haven’t met any obstacles yet.”
Trudel said the nation has come a long way since the end of the Vietnam War in giving veterans of that conflict the respect they deserve.
“When people were returning home, a lot of them were spit on and had things thrown at them,” he said. “Many of them changed out of their uniforms on the planes and hid them. After World War II and Korea, we were a war-weary country and, on top of that, we were going through a period of great social turmoil. I was a kid at the time, and my uncles and family who served made sure to impress upon me the reason why they did. There was a draft, but a majority of people still signed up, and it wasn’t so that they could go out and kill people. They were signing up to protect their families at home.”
Trudel’s family moved into the home of Thomas J. Blanchard, a Bristol soldier who died in Vietnam after stepping on a land mine. Growing up, Trudel slept in Blanchard’s bedroom. Blanchard’s name, along with those of other local soldiers who died in the the war, is now on a memorial plaque at Post 2.
Today, Trudel said, veterans proudly wear caps that note the wars they served in. He said strangers frequently come up and thank them for their service.
“It is incredible, what I have seen and heard,” he said. “As a whole, I think the nation has come back to a point where people understand what it means to put on a uniform and serve your country. Someone has to do it, regardless of whether or not you agree with all the politics. Sometimes, just thanking them for their service makes all the difference.”
Trudel said he was floored when he was shopping for a Legion event this fall and 8-year-old Owen Bailey saw him in his uniform and saluted him.
“I thanked him and when I told him that I was the commander of the local Legion post, he stood there awed,” said Trudel. “That sort of reverence for our veterans just impressed me so much that I took him to the post to meet with our other veterans. His mother, who lives in New York, was a member of their Legion [post], which was named after her great-grandfather.”

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