PORT ANGELES — A lone bagpiper wailed “Amazing Grace” under a heavy gray sky Sunday, and five Marine Corps League members provided a 12-gun salute to bid farewell to a replica of the Vietnam Memorial Wall.
Port Angeles Police Chief Terry Gallagher, who served in the Army from 1977-80, was the final keynote speaker of the five-day event.
When Gallagher first learned of the Sept. 11, 2001, attack, his first thought was that the U.S. was going to send the military into harm’s way, he said.
“I knew that thousands of America’s finest young people were going to step up to the plate to do whatever was necessary,” he said.
“I knew that some of those young people were going to die.”
Many emergency responders are veterans, and on 9/11, they rushed into the burning, crumbling buildings to help people.
What veterans do
“Because that, too, is what veterans do,” Gallagher said.
“I want to honor the first responders who survived,” he said.
“Six thousand of them were injured,” he said.
The four-fifths-scale replica wall has been on display at Olympic Wine Cellars since it arrived Wednesday, and has been available to visitors around the clock.
A combat-veterans group provided night security for the wall.
Gold dog tags
The American Veterans Traveling Tribute included a memorial of gold dog tags for U.S. servicemembers who have been killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, a 9/11 memorial for the civilian victims and emergency responders, and information on other conflicts, battles and wars from American history.
“It’s just remarkable,” said Ed Bedford, organizer of the event.
“The number of visitors has been in the thousands,” Bedford said.
Visitors were still trickling in to the display even as the closing ceremonies came to an end.
Four Port Angeles area groups — American Legion Riders, the Clallam County Veterans’ Association, the Marine Corps League and the Clallam County Mothers’ Club — received checks for $500 from the traveling wall group, to support veterans and veteran-supported charities.
Port Angeles High School’s Navy JROTC unit will receive 20 percent of the proceeds from the sales of two special-label wines, “Patriot Red” and “Celebration White.”
Final sales of the wine had not yet been tallied, Bedford said Sunday.
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Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
