Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall’s stop in Hartwell attracts hundreds
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Spectators from around the region came to Cateechee Golf Club in Hartwell over Labor Day weekend to view the Traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall, seen above.
On September 2, the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall and Tomb of The Unknown Soldier made their way to the City of Hartwell and visitors paid their respects.
At the Cateechee Conference Center, a row of American flags guided visitors into the parking lot where they were soon greeted by the memorial wall and replica of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Hundreds of people gathered to see the honor given to the thousands of men and women that sacrificed their lives during the Vietnam War.
Various national and local bands, from Hart County High School’s choir to the Air National Guard Band of the South, dedicated performances in honor of America and her fallen.
A Navy SEAL jump team leaped from an aircraft and landed at the Cateechee golf course, and Captain Phillips, whose hostage experience was turned into a major motion picture that starred Tom Hanks, showed up to pay his respects and help raise money and awareness to the Gold Star Family Trust Project.
Charles “Charly” Schell, Cateechee owner, was one of the organizers. Given Schell’s background as a former Major piloting one of the Army’s AH-64 Apache attack helicopters, the event meant so much more to him than just putting together another fun family outing.
“I’m proud of Hartwell,” Schell said. “I think that all roads lead to Hartwell. It was just a phenomenal opportunity to do something here that’s never occurred before.”
Schell lauded the efforts taken by several other people who helped make the traveling memorials make it to Hartwell.
“They did a phenomenal job,” Schell said. “I think they just made Hartwell proud.
“It’s one thing to talk about support but it’s another thing to do it. We’ve got a lot going on right now with soldiers and people who fought alongside Americans who need support. That’s what the whole event was about.”
Hartwell Director of Economic and Community Development Jason Ford, also a veteran, was one of the many people Schell praised for helping make the event happen.
“The idea was born out of one of the programs called Museums on Main,” Ford said. “And it brings Smithsonian exhibits to Main Street.
“So for people who can’t make it to Washington D.C. or who haven’t been in a long time, there’s an educational component, some of those things can be quite pricey and some of them are no cost, so I reached out to them and found out that it was a relatively low cost exhibit.
“The idea was to make great community events to bring people together, a rapturing experience if you will.”
When Ford was finished talking to the managers in charge of the traveling wall, he began to reach out to the local veteran communities in Hartwell like the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars to see if they would be interested in hosting the memorials.
“It just came together in a really wonderful way,” Ford said. “The credit goes to lots of people.”
Ford served as a medic in an infantry unit from 2004 through 2011 and was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan for one deployment each. His service and his family’s service made him feel “pretty strongly” about bringing the exhibits to Hartwell and its veteran community.
“I’m a veteran,” Ford said. “My uncle was a Vietnam veteran and he was wounded in 1969, and my grandfather served in the Navy, so my family has a strong military connection.
“I served in Iraq and Afghanistan and there’s a lot of parallels with what’s happened in Afghanistan and what happened in Vietnam. I felt pretty strongly that our community has been great in support of veterans and recognizing veterans, and this would be just another way to demonstrate that.
“My service connection creates the ability to understand and speak the language and know how to relate to, in a lot of ways, to the veteran community.”
When asked about the event and what it meant to him Ford remembered the 6 names on the memorial wall that were from Hartwell.
“There are six people from Hartwell on that wall,” said Ford. “We shouldn’t forget that. All of this demonstrated how great of a community we have, and that’s what it meant most to me.
“I just believe that if the rest of America could have seen Hartwell this weekend, we could be a great example of what communities are supposed to look like. It was a really great event.
Donations to family members who have lost loved ones in combat can be made to the Gold Star Family Trust Project through the website at www.toughestkids.com.