Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall replica makes stop in Cookeville, Tenn.

As efforts continue to find photos of Vietnam War veterans for a planned museum in the nation's capital, a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall will be in Middle Tennessee next week, its only scheduled stop in the state this year.

The Wall That Heals will be at the Putnam County Sports Complex in Cookeville, along with a mobile education center that tells the story of the Wall, the black granite monolith in Washington, D.C., that bears the names of the 58,315 Americans who lost their lives in the decade-long war.

Janna Hoehn, at home in Maui, Hawaii, is collecting photos of Vietnam War veterans for the Wall of Faces on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund website, www.vvmf.org, and a planned museum to tell more of their stories alongside the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.

Cookeville is among the first communities to host this new, larger, traveling exhibit, which features a three-quarter-scale Wall replica that is 375 feet long (almost the length of eight semi trailers) and 7.5 feet high at its tallest point. At this size, organizers say, the replica gives visitors a sense of the Wall rising above them as they walk toward the apex, a key feature of the design of the Wall in D.C. Also for the first time, visitors will be able to do name rubbings of individual service members' names, as is common at the full-size memorial.

"We are honored to host this powerful exhibit in Tennessee as we remember each of these heroes who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country," Gov. Bill Haslam said in a statement. "This is even more special for Tennessee, as the first Vietnam casualty is actually from this region. Spc. James Thomas "Tom" Davis is buried less than 20 miles from where the Wall will be on display."

Davis, according to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund website, vvmf.org, was a cryptologist with the 3rd Radio Research Unit with the Army Security Agency, which provided technical advice for locating enemy transmitters, among other functions. The morning of Dec. 22, 1961, he was riding in a three-quarter-ton truck on a highway 12 miles outside Saigon when an electrically controlled landmine was exploded beneath the truck. Immediately, Viet Cong rebels opened fire with rifles, automatic machine guns and hand grenades. Davis escaped the vehicle but was felled by a bullet to the head about 50 feet away. He is buried at Good Hope Cemetery in Livingston, Tennessee.

Davis is one of 1,295 native Tennesseans who died in Vietnam, according to the VVFM's online records. Janna Hoehn, a Hawaii resident who volunteers with the organization, is seeking photos to display with each veteran. Photos and bios are searchable on the website's Wall of Faces.

Following a Feb. 25 story in the Times Free Press about her quest, Hoehn has collected several more photos of fallen veterans from friends and family members in Southeast Tennessee, Northwest Georgia and Northeast Alabama. Many share personal stories when they reach out to her.

"The families are so grateful that there is someone who wants to honor and remember their loved ones," Hoehn says.

Many families supply additional biographical information, which she adds to the veteran's online profile.

"Sometimes the calls are very emotional," she says.

Once the museum opens, photos will be enlarged "from floor to ceiling" once a year, Hoehn says, rotating all day with other fallen heroes who share the same birthday.

Heidi Zimmerman, director of communications for the VVMF, says about $42 million has been raised for the $130 million project, which will be located on the National Mall near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Much of the expense, she says, comes from locating the center underground to preserve the sight lines between the Wall and the Lincoln Memorial.

The traveling wall, originally a half-scale replica, was unveiled by the VVMF on Veterans Day in 1996. Since then, it has visited nearly 600 cities throughout the nation and toured Ireland and Canada. Last year alone, it drew more than 250,000 visitors. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall draws about 5.2 million visitors each year.

Officials say that bringing the wall into local communities serves a dual purpose for veterans, living and dead.

It "allows the souls enshrined on the memorial to exist once more among family and friends in the peace and comfort of familiar surroundings," says a news release. And it "provides thousands of veterans who have been unable to cope with the prospect of facing the Wall [in D.C.] to find the strength and courage to do so within their own communities, thus allowing the healing process to begin."

The Wall That Heals is erected in a chevron shape with 24 individual panels. It is constructed of powder-coated aluminum and supported by an aluminum frame.

Like the full-size memorial, the names on the replica are listed by day of casualty, beginning at the center. The names start on the East Wall (right-hand side) and work their way out to the end of that wing, picking up again at the far end of the West Wall (left-hand side) and working their way back into the apex, joining the beginning and end of the conflict.

The accompanying mobile education center is housed in the trailer that carries the replica. The trailer's exterior walls open to reveal display cases with photos of service members whose names are found on the Wall, along with letters and memorabilia left at the Wall in D.C. The mobile museum also includes a map of Vietnam and a chronological overview of the conflict.

"Through The Wall That Heals, we are able to return the names home to communities across the country and allow Vietnam veterans and their family members who cannot make it to Washington, D.C., the opportunity to see the Wall. It gives communities a teaching moment for younger generations on why we should honor those who have served and sacrificed so much," said Jim Knotts, president and CEO of the VVMF.

The Wall That Heals will be open 24 hours a day during its four-day stop in Cookeville. There is no charge to view it.

Putnam County Executive Randy Porter says once visitors pay their respects at the traveling Wall, he hopes they'll "take advantage of the opportunities to fulfill their patriotic notions" by visiting Davis' grave in nearby Livingston and other veterans memorial points of interest in the Upper Cumberland.

Contact Lisa Denton at ldenton@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6281.