PENN YAN — When Win Harper and Herb Snyder returned home from the Vietnam War, it was a far cry from the adulation World War II veterans enjoyed about 20 years earlier.
“When Herbie and I came back we didn’t come back as units, we came back as individuals,” said Harper, a Middlesex resident. “I flew into Travis Air Force Base (California). We all dispersed from there and went different directions. There were no banners, no parades, no one standing in the street waving flags and welcoming us home.”
More than 50 years later Harper, Snyder, and dozens of other area Vietnam veterans embraced a belated welcome home when “The Wall That Heals” arrived in Yates County. The wall, a portable, three-quarters-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., honors the more than 3 million Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during the war and bears the names of the 58,281 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.
“Being a Vietnam veteran and bringing the wall here is very emotional. This will help people who will never get to Washington to see the real wall,” said Snyder, a Penn Yan resident and U.S. Marine Corps veteran who did two tours in Vietnam. “This is as close as they will ever get to seeing it.”
“This is special,” added Harper, a 25-year Marine Corps veteran who retired with the rank of lieutenant colonel. “Herbie has cried at least once and I have cried twice.
Harper and Snyder served on a local organizing committee along with Navy veteran Doug Gibbs, director of the Yates County Veterans Service Agency. Also on the committee were Tim Yetter, an officer in the local American Legion who was an escort rider; and Jody Tyler of the Yates Chamber of Commerce, who organized the volunteer effort.
Penn Yan is one of just 30 communities in the United States — and the only one in New York — hosting the wall this year. It was chosen from more than 100 communities that applied to host the wall in 2024, and this is the first time since 2002 that the wall has been in Yates County.
“We won’t be able to have this magnificent memorial here for a long time after this, so for it to finally be here is special,” Gibbs said. “We want all the people in the county and surrounding counties to be able to see it."
Approximately 350 bikers escorted the wall Tuesday afternoon, starting at the Fingerlakes Mall near Auburn and going through Seneca Falls, Waterloo, Geneva, and Hall before getting to Penn Yan. The wall will be at the Fireman’s Field.
“This is for you. Welcome home and thank you for your service,” Elaine Koontz of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which organizes the tour schedule for the wall, told area Vietnam veterans and others who attended the arrival at the Fireman’s Field. “We are thrilled to bring this national treasure to your backyard. The crowd we see here is the magic of the memorial.”
The wall was set up over 6-8 hours Wednesday by a largely volunteer crew of local residents. Among them was P. Earle “Dud” Gleason, a decorated Vietnam veteran who was later a Penn Yan businessman, director of the Yates County Veterans Service Agency, a county legislator, and member of the New York State Senate Veterans Hall of Fame.
“I love this being here. It’s very emotional,” said Gleason, who planned to carry a panel — during the wall assembly — with the names of two members of his Vietnam unit who were killed in action on the same day. “Even though I have spent quite a lot of time down in Washington volunteering at the wall there, for this to be here in my hometown and have my two buddies on that panel is special. It’s nice to have them come to my hometown.”
Family members of other area soldiers killed in Vietnam were planning to carry panels during the assembly process.
“We offer that to anyone who lost a loved one in the war,” Harper said.
The wall opened to the public Thursday and will remain until Sunday afternoon, when it will be disassembled.
Harper and Snyder credited Gibbs with getting the wall to Penn Yan. Gibbs was in Auburn last year to see the wall and he asked memorial fund officials about Yates County possibly being a host site.
“Doug had the inspiration for getting it here,” Snyder said. “I can’t believe we have this here in Penn Yan."
"The Wall That Heals" is transported in a 53-foot trailer. When parked, the trailer opens with exhibits built into its sides, allowing it to serve as a mobile education center telling the story of the war, the wall, and the divisive era in American history.
“I was talking to people who escorted the wall and they were welling up,” Harper said. “I think it’s going to be a great week. This is a chance for people to appreciate the sacrifice Vietnam veterans made in a turbulent time in our history. This is a chance for us to heal.”
The exhibit has been on display in more than 700 U.S. communities since its debut in 1996. There was an April 1999 tour of the Four Provinces of Ireland and a 2005 visit to Canada.
The replica is 375 feet long and stands 7½ feet high at its tallest point. The names of the deceased are listed in order of date of casualty and alphabetically on each day.
Officials said the wall is designed to put American experiences in Vietnam in a historical and cultural context.
Harper and Snyder said more than 10,000 people are expected to see the wall before it leaves Penn Yan on Sunday.
“I hope this will bring the people of this community out to understand what the cost of freedom is,” Snyder said. “We use that term all the time: Freedom is not free. I hope when they stand in front of this wall and reflect, they realize it’s not just 58,000 names scrawled in granite, it’s real people.”
