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The Wall that Heals committee met Friday at the Chisago Lakes Area Chamber building. The meeting was one of the final meetings before the Wall comes to Lindstrom on September 8. The Wall that Heals will be located at the JV ball field at Chisago Lakes High School. There is a planned motorcycle escort that will accompany the wall through the Chisago Lakes area to the High School.

The committee is expecting anywhere from 10,000 up to 20,000 visitors during the Wall's four day stay. The Wall will be open for viewing around the clock with a police presence there around the clock as well.

At the site, there will be a tent with two volunteers reading aloud all 58,249 casualty names accompanied by ringing of bells.

The wall is a half-scale replica of the original wall in Washington D.C. One significant point, this is the last year this wall is scheduled to travel.

Major Bastian Vanhofwegen notified the committee that there would be both an honor guard and a color guard present at the site.

The Major also told the committee that he spoke with General Kelly and a flyover has been pushed forward, meaning at least two F16 fighters will perform a flyover of the site. Vanhofwegen said that he has eight volunteers from the Service that would like to participate.

Local Vet Wyman Detzler then updated the committee about plans to have Freedom Flight hot air balloon present at the site as well as a Chinook helicopter (Sat. only) and the Crystal Military Museum. The museum will bring vehicles and other Vietnam War paraphernalia for the public to view.

Detzler said that Fairview will have a tent with nurses offering free blood pressure checks. The nurses will have a display honoring nurses who served in the military. The committee thought that was a great idea.

The committee thanked Frontier Communications for a recent donation of $1,000 to the Wall fund. The fund (made up of donations) has reached $11,755 which will be used for various expenses incurred with the Wall coming to town.

Veteran Mark Campbell told the committee the landscaping for the Wall is coming along great with the exception of public benches. Campbell said they would like to have 10 to 12 benches available for the public to use.

Volunteer Dan Lundberg told the committee that he has received lots of phone calls from people wishing to volunteer. Lundberg said that the majority of those calls were from people hoping to read the names of the fallen. Lundberg said that he would like the public to know that they are still in need of all kinds of volunteers and if interested, they should call Sherry Stirling at 651-257-5310.

Lundberg said that there is a media pre-event planned for Wednesday, September 9 from 3 to 5 p.m. The event will allow all media outlets to come view, photograph, video tape, and ask questions to get the word out to the public.

Veteran Don Bungum told the committee that his meeting with school administrators went well and everyone is excited about the event. He plans on talking with North Branch Schools, as well as Cambridge Schools, about potential school visits. Bungum said that Chisago Lakes Schools alone will probably bring close to 750 students for a Wall viewing.

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