SIUSLAW NEWS | SATURDAY, APRIL 6, 2019 | 7A
WALL from page 1A
The replica of the Viet-
nam Veteran’s Memorial was
brought to Florence by Spruce
Point Assisted Living Facility
and its director of marketing,
Kim Pruitt, who is also the
daughter of a Vietnam veter-
an.
“My dad was in Vietnam for
several years, and he didn’t talk
about it much with me. I was
the baby of the family, but the
one thing he did tell me was
when he got off the plane, he
was not welcomed home and
he was actually spit on,” Pruitt
said. “So, one of my goals,
when I found out we had the
opportunity to bring the wall
here, was to finally welcome
all veterans back home.”
This sense of finally being
appreciated for the time they
spent defending the nation is
a welcome shift from the re-
ception received by veterans
after returning from the war
in Vietnam.
For Florence resident Tim
Sapp, his service in Vietnam
was not a subject he discussed
with outsiders until long after
his service had ended.
“When I got back, my fami-
ly treated me great, but the rest
of the world wasn’t too nice. In
this day and age, you have a
lot more people thanking us
for our service,” Sapp said. “It
must have been 20 years be-
fore anyone thanked me. It’s
a lot different now than it was
then.”
Sapp had first seen the trav-
eling wall in Kentucky and was
involved in bringing an earlier
model of the wall to Florence.
He remembers the reactions
that were created when he first
FRAA ART CENTER
120 Maple Street
Phone: 541-997-4435
Hours Open: Wed-Fri 10am-4pm,
Sat 10am-5pm, Sun. 10am-4pm
Classes, Workshops & Events
NEW! Watercolor with Emily
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NEW! Ed Gunderson Show &
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Ed will be hosting a one-person show
demonstrating his airbrush techniques
and showing his finished works.
Sunday, April 14th, 11 am - 3 pm
Make your own watercolor Mermaid.
Saturday, April 20th, 1-3:30 pm
Watercolor supplies are provided. Pre-
registration req’d at FRAA or w/ Emily,
studios.epr@gmail.com.
Big Wave Poetry 1st Tuesday
Open Mic
Acrylic Pour Art with Pam
Nedder
Saturday, April 6, 2-4 pm
Saturday, May 4, 2-4 pm
Make your own acrylic pour painting. All
materials provided. Pre-registration req’d
at FRAA or w/ Pam,
pam.nedder@gmail.com .
Tuesday, May 7, 2019 at 7:00 pm.
Admission is free and refreshments will be
available.
Writers on the River - Creative
Writing Workshop with
Catherine Rourke
Coming Soon - Date TBA!
Memoir Writing: From Real Life to Real
Story. Contact: CJReditor@gmail.com ,
541-708-2120
Felting 1 with Ginny Kliever
Learn the art of Felting. making a coin
purse, Friday, April 12, 1-4 pm
Pre-registration req’d at FRAA or with
Ginny, 541-521-3513.
Painting with John Leasure
FlorenceFest ’19
This event is in its 3rd year and just keeps
getting better. Come enjoy the juried art
show sponsored by FRAA while sipping
wine and listening to Jazz music.
Friday, April 26th, 2-8 pm and
Saturday, April 27th, 2-10 pm.
Saturdays 9 am - 12 pm
No painting experience required.
Contact: jnleasure@hotmail.com or
541-991-2754 for details and fees.
Quarterly Members’ Meeting
Tuesday, April 16th, 3:00 pm. Come learn
about what we have been doing,
upcoming events, provide suggestions for
our future.
For more information about classes, visit fraaoregon.org. To register for
these classes, please call or visit FRAA at our Art Center on Maple Street.
saw the granite memorial.
“The first time the wall
came to town it was an emo-
tional experience. I was a little
more prepared this time,” he
said. “The thing I remember
was all the guys that came and
pulled up in their cars, but
they couldn’t walk up to the
wall because of the emotional
part of it.
“I’d go out and talk to them,
and a lot of these guys would
just break down and cry. Since
then, I’ve talked more freely
about my experiences. But
until that point you didn’t tell
people you were a Vietnam
vet.”
Paul Gargis is one of the
leaders of the unofficial local
veterans’ group known as the
“Band of Brothers,” which as-
sisted with the presentation
of the wall in Florence. Gar-
gis and his grizzled group
of veterans represent all five
military branches and many
of them will serve as guides
during the weekend.
Gargis served two tours in
Vietnam and says the inter-
actions he has these days with
the public are much different
than when he returned from
Southeast Asia.
“It is very important to me
and other vets in town to have
the wall come here. Every day
I wear clothes that have some
military connection. I served
two tours in Vietnam… ’68
and ’69 with the 25th Infantry
Division, then in ’71 and ’72
on an advisory team. When
I returned, I never talked
about my service or my time
in Vietnam,” Gargis said after
pausing to check his emotions.
“It is a lot different now, even
young people will come up to
us to thank us for our service,
and that is something I never
thought I would see in my life-
time.”
The decision on where to
place the replica was made
with the idea in mind that the
wall would not only heal but
educate as well.
For Siuslaw School District
Superintendent Andy Grz-
eskowiak, his approval for the
visit was partially based on the
MARK BRENNAN/SIUSLAW NEWS
The public is welcome to view the wall at all hours through
2 p.m. on April 7.
opportunity for his students
to learn in a manner which is
outside the norm.
“Giving the students an op-
portunity to see the Vietnam
Memorial Wall is important
because it takes history from
more than a topic in a book or
a television program into real-
ity for them,” he said. “Being
able to interact with veterans
who served during the war,
while they are on site, plus be-
ing able to engage with mem-
bers of the community, allows
them to see how much this
means to that generation. It is
something students can only
get when you talk with people
who lived through it.”
The wall will be in town
throughout the weekend.
Pruitt said she is appre-
ciative that the community
has contributed to the costs
associated with bringing the
replica to Florence. She also
pointed out that Spruce Point
was able to contribute to the
effort, thanks to the generosity
of sponsors and area residents.
“We had a garage sale at
Spruce Point — we have one
every year — and this year
we decided we would have it
little sooner and put all the
money raised into bringing
the wall to Florence. The wall
costs $10,000 and that doesn’t
include the insurance and
renting the portable toilets.
So, we raised just over $1,200
and that put us over the top,”
Pruitt said. “I really want to
say we couldn’t have done this
without the support of major
donations from sponsors and
the public.”
The volunteers and veter-
ans manning the wall during
the visit want the community
to know the wall is available
for viewing throughout the
weekend, 24 hours a day, until
closing ceremonies tomorrow
afternoon at 2 p.m.
The decision to have that
type of access is intentional,
according to Pruitt.
“At night, we expect to get
some of the visitors that still
have a hard time dealing with
the wall or seeing it. So, we
have it open 24 hours a day so
people can still see it, even if
they don’t want to be around
other people. They can take
their time and make their
way to it and have their time
alone,” she said.
Two events are part of the
wall’s visit. The first is a re-
membrance ceremony, which
is open to the public today at 1
p.m., and the closing ceremo-
nies on Sunday.
(Editor’s Note: The signif-
icance and public impact of
The Wall That Heals within
the community has had a rip-
ple effect that continues well
after the deadline for today’s
edition. For that reason, we
will be following today’s ar-
ticle with more coverage in
Wednesday’s edition, which
will include personal stories
shared by local veterans re-
garding the wall and their ex-
periences in Vietnam.)
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