More 40 volunteers appeared in Hawley’s Bingham Park to help set up the American Veterans Traveling Tribute Memorials.

The AVTT is being hosted in Hawley by the Tour of Honor Committee, a group of Leadership Wayne graduates who decided they wanted to do something for the World War II veterans of Wayne County and found enough support to not only complete that project by to also honor Korean War veterans and pay for most of the costs associated with the AVTT.

The AVTT will open today, Thursday, May 28 at 12 noon and remain open until 7 am Monday, June 1.

The volunteers were joined by a work crew from the Wayne County Prison and supervised by the staff which travels with AVTT. Under that guidance the volunteers laid out the various pieces of the memorials which come with the Vietnam War Memorial Wall.

The Wall itself is an 80 percent scale replica of the real Memorial which is located in Washington, DC. At 380 ft. long, the Traveling Wall is being set up in the basin or on the lower baseball fields in Bingham Park. Various other Memorials for all 20th Century Conflicts will be set up near the Wall.

Volunteers from Hamlin American Legion Post 507, The Hawley Sons of the American Legion, Waymart American Legion Post 889 and the Hawley Crime Watch will be providing security through out the AVTT’s visit. Hamlin AL volunteers are providing security each night from 12 midnight until 8 am. The Hawley SAL and Crime Watch are sharing the duties from 8 pm until 12 midnight each night.

Throughout the Wall’s visit to Hawley, volunteers will be an important part of the success of the memorial.

Dennis Armstrong, one of the staff that travels with the AVTT, said they couldn’t do it without the volunteers.

Volunteers will hand out flyers, help visitors find family and friends on The Wall and help visitors around the site.

Volunteers from the Hawley Fire Department and Ambulance Corps will also be on hand to help with first aid.

The Memorial opens today, Thursday, at 12 noon.