Touring Vietnam War Wall at Hudson Falls Legion, 7/25-28

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall will be displayed at American Legion Post 574 on 72 Pearl Street in Hudson Falls, Friday to Monday, July 25 to July 28. “We will be conducting a Reading of the Names continuously throughout the event,” Julie Montello, President of the Legion Post’s Auxiliary Unit, tells The Chronicle.

“With over 58,000 names inscribed on the wall [of Americans who died in the Vietnam War], the task takes 65 hours. Volunteers are signing up in 30 minute intervals to complete this project.”

Opening ceremonies are Friday, July 25, at 10 a.m. Afterwards, the Wall will be open to visitors 24 hours a day throughout the event, at no charge.

On Thursday morning, July 24, as the traveling wall arrives in Hudson Falls, it will be escorted from the Northway Exit 9 rest area through Exit 17 and on Routes 197 and 4 to Legion Hall on Pearl Street.

It will take a day, Thursday, to set up.

“2025 marks the 50th remembrance of the Vietnam War,” Mrs. Montello notes.

She said 166 of the approximately 300 veteran members in the Hudson Falls Post are Vietnam veterans.

The Auxiliary reached out to the Traveling Memorial Wall manager, “Richard “Doc” Russo of Brevard County, Florida, last April, and was accepted as a location for this anniversary year.

“The Wall is a 3/5 scale of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, D.C. It stands six feet tall at the center and covers almost 300 feet from end to end,” she said.

The Legion will also host the “Some Gave All” moving tribute, depicting the names of those who perished in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, as well as names of casualties from Desert Storm Afghanistan through 2022.

Guest speaker on July 25 is Second Lieutenant Joan Furey of Long Island, an Army Nurse who deployed to Vietnam and served in the ICU of the 71st Evacuation Hospital in Pleiku. The Bronze Star recipient was inducted into the NYS Veterans Hall of Fame in 2015, Mrs. Montello wrote, and has been featured “in numerous documentaries” on the Vietnam War.

Other speakers on July 25 are to include State Senator Dan Stec, Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner and Kingsbury Town Supervisor Dana Hogan.

“We will also be having a pinning ceremony during opening ceremonies, presenting commemorative lapel pins from the Department of Defense for living U.S. veterans who served on active duty in the U.S. Armed Forces at any time during the period of November 1, 1955 to May 15, 1975, regardless of location.

Parking on Legion grounds will be reserved for Veterans and handicapped visitors. Overflow parking is at the intermediate school on Maple Street, with shuttle buses from the school.

Copyright © 2025 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved