Thousands of people came from all over to the village of Penn Yan to visit the “Wall That Heals” during its five-day occupancy that ended Sunday in the Yates County village.
The county’s Veterans Services Director Doug Gibbs was a member of the four-person committee that helped bring the replica Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall to Penn Yan. He said it was a satisfying and emotional experience to have the 375-foot long, three-quarter scale replica of the Washington D.C. memorial in the Finger Lakes.
“It was about the Vietnam Veterans, the families, and the people who came out and the stories they shared and the tears they shed,” said Gibbs. “It was about the community being able to witness and see something that they might otherwise get to see in their life.”
Joining Gibbs on the committee that brought the Wall to Penn Yan was United States Marine Corps Sergeant Alan “Herbie” Snyder, a Penn Yan native, Win Harper, Lt. Col. USMC-Ret., who resides in Middlesex, and Jody Tyler, Director of Member Services with the Yates County Chamber of Commerce, who Gibbs said, “had the answers to all of our questions and knew all the right people.”
“We didn’t reach outside of this community to franchise this event with big corporations, we stayed completely local and that was important to us,” said Gibbs. “We decided early on we were going to do this completely on a local level. All of the purchases we made came from local vendors. It was a community event.”
Gibbs said the Yates County community stepped up as well through volunteering.
“We had 60 people each for the set-up and takedown of the Wall and then 144 during the week. That’s a very large part of the community and they all volunteered. Some people worked a four-hour shift every day. We had one woman who took an entire week of vacation from work so she could be here to volunteer every day.”
We have photos from Saturday night’s Agent Orange Awareness ceremony and Sunday’s closing ceremony below:
All photos: Lucas Day, Finger Lakes Daily News
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