A day to remember: Wall That Heals makes a big impact on Charlotte students, area veterans
With veterans looking on, teacher John Moran presided over ceremonies that welcomed The Wall That Heals to Weymouth Elementary School in Charlotte. Moran spearheaded efforts to bring the Vietnam Veterans Memorial replica to Charlotte and has hosted the Vietnam Veterans Roundtable in his classroom for 20 years.
Friday, May 23, is a day that Charlotte High School social studies teacher John Moran, students in this Eaton County school district and hundreds of area veterans will never forget.
The start of the Memorial Day weekend marked the 20th anniversary of Charlotte High’s Vietnam Veterans Roundtable, an educational experience created by Moran to help students learn about the Vietnam War and to honor soldiers who served in that controversial conflict.
Since 1989, Vietnam veterans have visited Moran’s high school classes just prior to Memorial Day to discuss this most unpopular war with students.
On this special day, Moran also presided over a stirring ceremony that opened The Wall That Heals for public viewing and honored the 26 soldiers from Eaton County who died in Vietnam.
The Wall That Heals is a traveling, half-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., listing the names of more than 58,000 service members who died in Vietnam.
And, May 23 also was Moran’s 47th birthday.
“It was an emotional weekend for me, that’s for sure, and a birthday I will never forget,” said Moran, who spearheaded efforts to bring The Wall to Charlotte.
As an educator, Moran saw the weekend as a tremendous learning experience for students.
“This was a living history lesson for students. It provided many cross-curricular connections at all grade levels. This was a day that was overpowering, and I’m sure changed the lives of many students.”
Army Sgt. Maj. James Nichols and Marine Corps Sgt. Amber Woods salute after placing a wreath near The Wall That Heals. Nichols served in Afghanistan and Woods in Iraq. Both are graduates of Charlotte High School. Woods is a former student of social studies teacher John Moran.
A colleague, who teaches fourth-grade in Charlotte, passed along poetry her students wrote after viewing The Wall. “These kids got so much out of this…their poetry was wonderful,” said Moran, who confessed to tearing up while reading the students’ work.
Moran estimates that from 15,000 to 20,000 people, including 3,000 students, viewed The Wall over Memorial Day weekend. It was open around the clock.
“We visited several times over the weekend, and the parking lot was always full up to midnight. Security people told me that people kept coming throughout the night. It was nonstop.”
Moran recalled his own emotional late-night visit with his 19-year-old son, who “realized that most of those names on the wall were service members around his age and that could have been his name on The Wall if he had been alive in the 1960s and 1970s.”
One of the Vietnam veterans who has participated in most of the roundtable discussions in the past two decades saluted Moran’s efforts.
“There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for a public school teacher like John Moran,” said Ron Springer, who served in the 101st Airborne Division in Vietnam. “He has meant so much for students at Charlotte High School and for my fellow veterans.
Charlotte students get an up-close look at the names of soldiers who died in the Vietnam War.
“John has always seen us as real people who served in one of the most unpopular wars in this country’s history. The roundtable has given us the opportunity to tell our story, the good and the bad. Students have been there to hear our stories and to share our experiences, and the pain. John Moran is a teacher who cares enough about us to pour his life into a project he believes in.”
Moran, who never served in the military, deflected the praise. “I’ve had a lot of help on this project. Over 500 people volunteered their time to bring The Wall That Heals to Charlotte. I have enormous respect for veterans who have served our country. This is for you... let’s all pray for those people on The Wall.”