March 28, 2024

Locals work to bring ‘The Wall That Heals’ back to Jasper County

Fundraiser set for Thursday

American Legion Post 111 in Newton will host a fundraising dinner and auction on Thursday in an effort to bring “The Wall That Heals” back to Jasper County.

The wall is a half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C. For more than 20 years, it has been traveling throughout the United States and helping Vietnam veterans in their healing process.

Thursday’s event will start with dinner at 5:30 p.m. and the auction will begin at 7 p.m. There is a freewill offering for the dinner, and the auction will be live following the meal.

The healing wall’s last proper stop in Jasper County was in 2013. Doug Bishop, who chairs the Jasper County Veterans Alliance, said the Redshirt group and the American Legion family organized the fundraiser.

“We’d like to see as many people turn out as we can,” Bishop said. “We have a tremendous amount of nice items that have been donated. We just need bidders to come and throw bids at them.”

If the effort to bring the wall back to Jasper County is successful, it will happen in 2018. Bishop said the plan is to incorporate local schools and make a big event out of it.

Spahn & Rose Lumber Co., Ballyhoo Printing, area golf courses and numerous individuals — “too many to mention,” according to Bishop — donated items for the auction.

Contact Justin Jagler at
641-792-3121 ext 6532 or jjagler@newtondailynews.com