The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund has a 3/4 scale exact replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial that travels the country because VVMF knows not everyone has the means of getting to Washington, D.C. to see ‘The Wall.’ This 3/4 scale replica is called The Wall That Heals and I’ve had the honor of working with it, as Site Manager, for almost 4 years.

One of the roles as Site Manager with The Wall That Heals is giving tours to volunteers, visitors, and students. We start our tours at the Mobile Education Center, a 52-foot trailer that holds and transports the 3/4 scale replica of ‘The Wall’ that turns into a 360° exhibit. The first side of the Mobile Education Center contains a timeline of the Vietnam War and The Wall, a video screen displaying Hometown Heroes who are on ‘The Wall,’ a video screen displaying In Memory inductees from the state we are in, and an items display I like to call A Snapshot of Vietnam. The other side of the Mobile Education Center has two displays with just a small collection of the more than 400,000 items we’ve collected since 1982.

The Heroes: 2 Miles for 2 Names

MAJ Dale Richard Buis &
MSGT Chester Melvin Ovnand

Once we tour groups around the Mobile Education Center, we then move to ‘The Wall.’ As we walk to the apex (the point where the East side and West side meet) of ‘The Wall,’ we begin to discuss the layout of the names and must mention those first two names:

Their story goes like this: Coming out of World War II, President Truman and the administration were fearful of communism sweeping the globe and infiltrating the United States, the Domino Theory. Vietnam was in the midst of the French Indochina War and Truman sends advisors in to help the French in fighting the Việt Minh in 1950. Along side trying to conquer communism, advisors were helping establish a democratic foundation in the country.

Dale Buis and Chester Ovnand¹ were in a mess hall that was converted into a movie theater on the evening of July 8, 1959. At the time, movies ran on multiple reels and an intermission was taken to change those reels. Ovnand switched on the lights to change the reels of “The Tattered Dress” and enemy fire came in through the windows, Buis and Ovnand were both killed.

Silent Miles Summary

1. Chester Ovnand is listed on The Wall two times. While he is inscribed as Panel E1, Line 1, this instance of his name is misspelled as Chester Ovnard. The second instance has the correct last name spelling but the wrong middle initial on Panel 7E, Line 46. ↩︎