Healing comes in many forms.

The Sycamore Park District will host The Wall That Heals, a traveling memorial created in observance of those who served and died in the Vietnam War.

The wall is available for public viewing at all hours from Sept. 13 to 16 in the Good Tymes Shelter, 940 E. State St.

“There’s 58,256 names on the wall,” said Lonnie Stojan, Vietnam veteran and chairman of the Traveling Wall Committee. “It’s an exact half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. and travels all across the country.”

Etched into the wall’s powder-coated, black reflective surface are the names arranged in chronological order by date of death.

The wall’s reflective quality is one of the main design features of the wall in D.C., said Barbara Smith, site manager for The Wall That Heals.

“When people stand in front of the wall, they see their reflection among the names,” Smith said. “In a sense, they become a part of the wall.”

First unveiled in 1996, the traveling exhibit has since toured more than 350 locations within the United States. It has been viewed abroad in Canada and the Four Provinces of Ireland. Accompanying the wall is a traveling museum and information center.

“It’s indescribable,” Stojan said of his first encounter with the wall. “I have friends whose names are on there. It’s kind of overwhelming, especially when you stand in the middle. All you see are rows upon rows of names.”

Stojan, who also serves as director of the DeKalb County Chapter of Vietnam, said the wall affects everybody differently.

“There’s still a lot of vets who won’t go up to the wall,” he said. “They stand back. It brings back a lot of bad memories.”

Each visitor has a story to tell, Smith said.

“In every community we visit, we see hundreds of people touched by the wall and what it represents,” she said. “For some, it’s a first step in the healing process.”

There are a total of five traveling walls in the U.S. today. The Wall That Heals is the only one associated with the wall in Washington, D.C.

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