SCRANTON — Before James Kuchwara died two years ago at age 73, the Army veteran of the Vietnam War raised the idea of having the traveling replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C., return to Scranton.
Local veterans, including Kuchwara’s brother, Marine veteran Samual Kuchwara, and city and county officials are making it happen.
Titled “The Wall That Heals,” the touring replica of the permanent wall in the nation’s capital will be on display at Nay Aug Park on Oct. 2-3, 2026, Kuchwara and council President Gerald Smurl said.
The touring wall visited the city in 2007 and 2011.
One day a few years ago when the Kuchwara brothers were visiting Nay Aug Park, Jim mentioned to Sam the idea of bringing the touring wall back to the city.
“He said to me, ‘You know what Sam, we should get the Vietnam wall back here.’ That was his hope. He didn’t live to see it,” Kuchwara said Monday in an interview at a memorial flag pole site at Nay Aug Park named in honor of his brother and dedicated to all veterans, living and deceased.
Jim “Kuch” Kuchwara, who was a commander of VFW Post 25 in North Scranton, died in March 2023.
At an Independence Day event this past summer, Kuchwara approached Smurl about getting the wall to make a return visit to the city, noting it would cost about $16,000. Smurl went to Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and the rest of city council, who all readily agreed to have the city fund a return visit of the moving wall.
“It was a slam dunk (among the city leaders). When they decided to do that, then the county caught wind of it” and agreed to pay half of the cost, Kuchwara said. “So it’s coming next October.”
They expect the wall to arrive and get set up on Thursday, Oct. 1, and then be on display to the public during Friday, Oct. 2, and Saturday, Oct. 3, and then get dismantled on Sunday, Oct. 4, and depart to its next destination.
According to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund website, the replica wall was unveiled on Veterans Day 1996 and designed to travel to communities throughout the United States. “Since its dedication, The Wall That Heals has been displayed at nearly 800 communities throughout the nation, spreading the Memorial’s healing legacy to millions.”
“Bringing the wall home to communities throughout our country allows the souls enshrined on the memorial to exist once more among family and friends in the peace and comfort of familiar surroundings. The traveling exhibit provides thousands of veterans who have been unable to cope with the prospect of facing the wall to find the strength and courage to do so within their own communities, thus allowing the healing process to begin,” the website says.
The main components of The Wall That Heals are the wall replica and a companion mobile Education Center. The Wall That Heals exhibit features a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The replica is 375 feet in length and stands 7.5 feet high at its tallest point and gets erected in a chevron shape. The names on The Wall That Heals are listed by day of casualty. Beginning at the center/apex, the names start on the east wall (right-hand side) working 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 in to the center/apex, joining the beginning and end of the conflict at the center.
The replica wall will be set up in Nay Aug Park in an interior trail walkway section, between the pool complex and the loop road, Kuchwara said. Getting the replica has a long lead time of about a year, Smurl said.
The traveling wall will get police escorts from Interstate 81 into the city, Kuchwara and Smurl said.
The city next year also will be celebrating the city’s 160th anniversary and the nation’s 250th anniversary, Cognetti said.
In a phone interview Monday, Lackawanna County Commissioner Bill Gaughan recalled seeing the wall during its 2011 visit to the city and looks forward to its return.
“It’s a beautiful honor,” Gaughan said. “It’s exciting to have it back to honor our veterans.”
Kuchwara said, “A lot of people are already looking forward to this, all the (members of the) American Legions and VFWs.” He added, “My brother always said this: ‘VFWs and American Legions are fading out, but the walls won’t.’”
Gen. Theodore J. Wint VFW Post 25 commander James Kuchwara speaks during the post’s Memorial Day ceremony May 30, 2022 at Veterans Memorial Park in Scranton. (TIMES-TRIBUINE / FILE PHOTO)
Vietnam era veteran Donny Knight, 64, of North Scranton, who served in the Army from 1966 to 1968 in Okinawa, Japan, observes the Wall That Heals at Nay Aug Park in Scranton in Oct. of 2011. Knight also is a member of the Friends of the Forgotten. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
Nicholas Giles of Scranton lies down on the ground to photograph a family friend’s name as volunteers set up the Wall That Heals in Nay Aug Park in Scranton in Nov. of 2007. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
Vietnam Veteran Mike Cerato, 61, of Scranton, takes a picture of the names of several of his buddies who died during the Vietnam War at The Wall That Heals at Nay Aug Park in Scranton in Nov. of 2007. ” I was with a good group and they deserve the recognition”. “Seeing their names, it chokes you right up”. “I hope a lot of kids see this to realize how lucky they are”. “As scary as it was, I was blessed and fortunate”. Cerato was with M- Company, 3rd battalion, 9th Marine Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division in Vietnam from 1966-1967. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
Vietnam Veteran Mike Cerato, 61, of Scranton, points to the names of several of his buddies who died in the Vietnam War on The Wall That Heals at Nay Aug Park in Scranton in Nov. of 2007.. “It’s hard to fathom, you look at all those names”. Cerato was with M -Compnay 3rd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment of the 3rd Marine Division from 1966-1967. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
A small American flag is displayed in front of The Wall That Heals at Nay Aug Park in Scranton in Octobter of 2011. The traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Museum travels the country throughout the year. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
Show Caption
1 of 5
Vietnam era veteran Donny Knight, 64, of North Scranton, who served in the Army from 1966 to 1968 in Okinawa, Japan, observes the Wall That Heals at Nay Aug Park in Scranton in Oct. of 2011. Knight also is a member of the Friends of the Forgotten. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO)
Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, third from left, and city council President Gerald Smurl, at far left, pose with local veterans, from left, John Heil, Phil Fleming, Jim McHugh, Sam Kuchwara and Matthew Fedor, at a veteran’s memorial flag pole at Nay Aug Park in Scranton on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. The veterans are members of American Legion Koch-Conley Post 121 that uses the community building at Nay Aug Park, Kuchwara said. The group met to discuss with The Times-Tribune plans to have “The Wall That Heals” traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Museum return to Scranton in Oct. of 2026, where the wall will make a four-day stop at Nay Aug Park. (JIM LOCKWOOD/ STAFF PHOTO)
Marine veteran and Scranton native Sam Kuchwara of Dickson City at a veterans memorial flag pole at Nay Aug Park in Scranton named in honor of his late brother, Jim “Kuch” Kuchwara, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War who died in 2023 at age 73, and that’s dedicated to all living and deceased veterans. Photo taken Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Marine veteran and Scranton native Sam Kuchwara of Dickson City at a veterans memorial flag pole at Nay Aug Park in Scranton named in honor of his late brother, Jim “Kuch” Kuchwara, an Army veteran of the Vietnam War who died in 2023 at age 73, and that’s dedicated to all living and deceased veterans. Photo taken Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (JIM LOCKWOOD / STAFF PHOTO)
Show Caption
1 of 3
Scranton Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti, third from left, and city council President Gerald Smurl, at far left, pose with local veterans, from left, John Heil, Phil Fleming, Jim McHugh, Sam Kuchwara and Matthew Fedor, at a veteran’s memorial flag pole at Nay Aug Park in Scranton on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. The veterans are members of American Legion Koch-Conley Post 121 that uses the community building at Nay Aug Park, Kuchwara said. The group met to discuss with The Times-Tribune plans to have “The Wall That Heals” traveling Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Museum return to Scranton in Oct. of 2026, where the wall will make a four-day stop at Nay Aug Park. (JIM LOCKWOOD/ STAFF PHOTO)