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The Moving Wall Newport

Our nation honors the courage, sacrifice and devotion to duty and country of its Vietnam Veterans.

Schedule of Events

Click any day to go to the full event profile and several include the presentations, photos and videos

  • Candlelight Vigil. with music by the Newport Navy Choristers, the Old Glory Flag Ceremony, a KIA remembrance  with the Missing Man Table, and concluding with the reading of names of the RI Veterans killed in Vietnam.
  • Friday, September 20, Opening Ceremony. and include music, a Proclamation by the City of Newport, and speakers sharing their perspective and experience as Vietnam Veterans, including Former RI Chief Justice Frank J. Williams and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, and Wayne Smith.

Download a pdf of the event program.

The Moving Wall Newport 2019 Speech and Ceremony Documents

Missing Man Ceremony Script Peggy Zarek Speech Flora Jo "Peaches" Dunn Speech John Ciummo Speech

Note: speeches are not permitted to be reprinted without express permission of the author.

History of the Vietnam War

The history of the Vietnam War is complicated and lengthy. No matter what an individual’s thoughts about the war itself, it cannot be argued that thousands of people died and many more were casualties, prisoners of war or missing in action.

In order to begin to acknowledge the sacrifices made during the Vietnam War a memorial was conceived. In late 1982 the Vietnam Memorial was completed in our nation’s capital. This was a step in the right direction toward healing the figurative wounds we incurred from the very unwanted war.

It took a few more years before the dream could be realized for a version of this memorial to reach beyond those who had the means to travel to DC and so The Moving Wallwas born in 1984. Thanks to John Devitt, a Vietnam Vet himself and a small group of his dedicated friends.

As the Vietnam War generation is getting older it seems important to give every opportunity for healing those remaining personal wounds.

Paul said, “As a Vietnam veteran myself, I am familiar with the environment encountered by Vietnam vets returning home. We did not receive the nation’s gratitude nor the public’s respect for our military service as veterans do now and as they did before that unpopular war. Very often returning Vietnam veterans were vilified.”

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