BUENA PARK : Vietnam Memorial to Go on Display

Jess Rivera believes that seeing the Moving Wall, a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, will be a homecoming and a form of emotional healing.

“I think there are a lot of vets out there that have never really had a complete feeling of returning--and by being part of this process, it helps your healing, your pain and your respect,” said Rivera, 48, who served 16 months in Vietnam.

The Moving Wall will be on display next to Knott’s Berry Farm’s Independence Hall on Beach Boulevard Monday through Nov. 15. An opening ceremony will be conducted Monday afternoon at 4.

The memorial is nearly 253 feet long and bears the names of the 58,132 Americans who either gave their life to the war or who remain missing. It will be available for viewing 24 hours a day.

Volunteers from veterans groups will be on hand from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily to assist viewers in locating names on the wall.

There is no charge to view the memorial, and park admission is not required, said Stuart A. Zanville, Knott’s Berry Farm spokesman.

Zanville said active military personnel, veterans and their spouses and children under 12 will be admitted free to Knott’s Berry Farm on Veterans Day, which is on Wednesday, and Nov. 12 and 13.

Zanville said the theme park decided to bring the memorial to Orange County to commemorate Veterans Day.

Rivera, a manager at the theme park, said the Moving Wall is expected to evoke emotions of not only pain, but patriotism too.

“I hope everyone gets an opportunity to visit whether they were associated with it or not,” he said. “It’s a very stirring thing to visit the wall. It brings the reality into the whole thought of Vietnam.”