Selleck unveils traveling memorial exhibits in DC

[March 27, 2009]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Emmy-award winner Tom Selleck visited the National Mall in Washington on Thursday to launch new exhibits for a traveling museum honoring Vietnam veterans.

The 64-year-old actor joined members of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund as they unveiled exhibits for The Wall That Heals, a 45-foot aluminum trailer that travels across the country to people who may not have the opportunity to visit the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

During the ceremony, Selleck thanked veterans and stressed the importance of remembering the Vietnam War.

"That war taught the American people a lesson that we can and we must honor our warriors, no matter what our feelings about the war," Selleck said.

The museum, which has been on the road since 1996, already features a removable half-scale replica of the original Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall. This is the first time new exhibits have been introduced.

Four windows on both sides of the trailer divide the museum into three parts. One new section called "Making the Names Visible," includes a collection of photographs of fallen Vietnam veterans. Each picture is accompanied by biographical information about the veteran, as well as where the veteran's name can be found on the original wall.

In the new "The Living Memorial" section, visitors will see items that were placed at the original wall, including combat boots, military medals and identification bracelets. Also included are letters written from loved ones to those who served in Vietnam.

The third new area features a map of Vietnam and a chronology of the war.

Ernie Quintana, acting deputy director of the National Park Service and a decorated Vietnam veteran, said the trailer exhibit continues to help heal those who lost loved ones and those who served in the war.

"Many years have passed, but for many of us it seems like it was yesterday," Quintana said. "There's still the healing that needs to happen and this is a step in the right direction."

The exhibits will be similar to those that will be part of The Education Center at the Wall, an underground facility to be built on the Mall. It will display some of the 100,000 items that have been placed at the memorial.

Planners are deciding on a design, and no date has been set for the center's completion. A spokeswoman says the cost is estimated at between $75 million and $100 million.

Selleck, who served in the California National Guard and was activated for the Watts riots in Los Angeles in 1965, is the spokesman for the center.

The Detroit-born actor is known for his work as private investigator Thomas Magnum in the TV show "Magnum, P.I." during the 1980s. He is set to star in the Lionsgate thriller "Five Killers."

The new center, he said, will further commemorate more than 58,000 military members named on the original memorial.

"The education center will take us from thinking about the 58,000 as a group to thinking of them as individuals," he said.

[Associated Press; By KAMALA LANE]

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