Chapter 154’s Moving Wall Stolen, Recovered

A pickup truck and trailer containing the Michigan Vietnam Veteran Traveling Memorial — both of which belong to Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 154 — were stolen over the Christmas holiday.

“We shut down for the weekend and this morning, found the trailer and truck were gone,” Steve Bago, chapter president, told the Macomb Daily on Wednesday. “I called the individuals who had access to it, thinking maybe they took it in for service. But nobody knows anything about it.”

Composed of five panels, the memorial is embossed with the names of 2,654 Michigan residents who died serving in the Vietnam War. Since 2005, chapter members have taken the 25-foot memorial to numerous community events throughout the year.

Detroit police have since recovered the trailer, but the chapter’s 2003 Ford F250 is still missing. “The important part was in the trailer,” Bago told the Detroit Free Press. “”We’re ecstatic that we’ve got the wall back. It’s a little Christmas miracle for us.”

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