More than 12,000 people attended The Wall That Heals traveling exhibit during its display at the University of Â鶹´«Ã½–West Oʻahu Great Lawn in January. The three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., along with a mobile education center, served as a powerful gathering space for the community to learn, remember and share.
The Wall That Heals, a program of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund (VVMF), honors the more than three million Americans who served in the Vietnam War and bears the names of the 58,281 men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice.
Ken Inouye, assistant to the vice chancellor for administration at UH West Oʻahu, was part of the team that helped bring the exhibit to campus and found the experience deeply moving. He noted that unlike the quiet, often solitary nature of the D.C. memorial, the atmosphere at UH West Oʻahu fostered spontaneous connection and sharing.
Place of healing
“Seeing the effect it has had within our community has been humbling, and the way people just spontaneously shared their stories with me and others was clearly healing,” Inouye said. “People who came to visit The Wall That Heals immediately sensed that everyone there was of the same community.”
Inouye is the son of the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, who served in the U.S. Army¡¯s 442nd Regimental Combat Team, one of the most decorated military units in U.S. history.
“A woman and her husband approached me to ask for directions and then started talking to me about the Wall,” he said. “After about five minutes of us talking about family members who had served in the military, she realized that her uncle and my father had served together in World War II.”
Nearly 400 volunteers and more than 20 community partners contributed to the event. The display at UH West Oʻahu was the first stop of the VVMF¡¯s 2026 The Wall That Heals . The exhibit will visit a total of 31 communities in 2026.
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—By Zenaida Serrano Arvman
