Sikeston group seeking volunteers to help with mobile Vietnam wall visit

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Repeating the success Sikeston had with The Moving Wall Vietnam veterans memorial 19 years ago is a task requiring months of planning and hard work -- and plenty of volunteers.

A Sikeston group is seeking volunteers to help pull the event off, the Sikeston Standard Democrat reported.

"We're in excellent shape as far as being prepared," said Tom Austin, chairman of Firebase Sikeston, the group responsible for bring the Wall here in both 1991 and 2010. "Now we need to get the word out that it's going to be here and we're needing some help."

Of the 40 core Firebase Sikeston members that worked to bring the Moving Wall to Sikeston in 1991, about 18 are able to participate again this time.

"Some have moved away, some have passed on, some are in ill health and are not able to help as they would like to," Austin said.

Austin noted that Sept. 9, the day The Moving Wall will be set up and begin receiving visitors, is less than three weeks away.

Receiving and assisting those visitors -- possibly more than 10,000 per day -- is going to take a whole lot of volunteers.

"We need tour guides, we need greeters, we need people along the Wall who can help visitors find specific names," Austin said. "We're going to need computer operators. We're going to need people to help with parking. We're going to need people to help with security."

Firebase Sikeston members will be cross-trained for all of these positions so they can fill in "anywhere that's needed, anytime that's needed," Austin said. "This is a dedicated bunch of folks."

As dedicated as they are, Firebase Sikeston members can't do it all themselves. Group tours with tour guides will generally be scheduled between 9 a.m. and 8 p.m., according to Austin, but the Wall will be open for visitors around the clock.

Austin said they are hoping to have the Wall up and ready for its first visitors by 1 p.m. Sept. 9. It will then remain open until 4 p.m. Sept. 13 when it will be closed to visitors so it can be safely taken down.

How many volunteers from the community that will be needed depends on how many shifts each volunteer works.

Not counting Firebase Sikeston members, about 60 volunteers have committed to helping so far. "I'd like to see another 60," Austin said.

A typical shift for a community volunteer is four hours, Austin said, "but if someone can only work two hours, we'll cover the other two hours somehow. We'll work with the volunteer and find a schedule that works for them."

A place for those with physical limitations or who have workplace or family responsibilities to work around can also be found among volunteers, he said.

Austin said it's important for all of those who volunteer to remember that they will be representing Sikeston to thousands of visitors from outside the community.

Positions to be filled by community volunteers are:

• Tour guides

Tour guides will provide information and assistance to groups, such as schools, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, fraternal organizations and church groups, that schedule tours of The Moving Wall.

"Groups are going to vary in size from three or four people to up to 40 people," Austin predicted.

Tour guides, who will meet their groups at a predetermined meeting point, will be trained to know what the symbols next to names on the Wall signify, how names are listed on the wall, what calendar dates mean and other general information about The Moving Wall.

In order to answer questions asked by tour groups, tour guides will receive training so they are familiar with a list of frequently asked questions and other facts related to the Wall.

• Greeters

Greeters will be stationed at podiums that will be placed at the entrance on each end of the Wall, according to Austin.

They will encourage visitors to sign in on the registry. "Some people don't want to sign it, and if they don't, that's OK," Austin said.

Greeters will also pass out printed programs with a listing of sponsors and the itinerary of scheduled events and will be able to provide directions to those who need them.

• Computer operators

Two information tents, one near the end of each leg of the Wall, will be set up to assist visitors in finding the name they are looking for.

"We'll have two computers in each tent," Austin said.

Using information provided by the visitor, the computer operators will search The Wall's database and attempt to pull up information about the location of any name on the Wall along with other information that might be available about that veteran.

"All there is is a name on the Wall," Austin said. "There's no rank, branch, serial number -- there's just a name."

Computer operators will the provide an 8.5-by-11 inch printout with that information and the location of the name.

"There's a big space on it so you can take that sheet of paper and get a rubbing," Austin said, noting the printout is suitable for framing.

• Helpers

Helpers will be stationed next to the Wall every couple of panels or so and should be easy to find with their Firebase Sikeston T-shirts and identification cards on lanyards worn around their neck.

"They have to be very visible," Austin said.

Helpers will guide visitors to specific panels, help visitors locate names and even advise and assist with the correct way to get a rubbing from the Wall.

• Parking attendants

Parking attendants will be placed around Rotary Park to "help direct people so we don't get a traffic jam or park incorrectly so it blocks traffic," Austin said.

While there will be some perpendicular parking, most spaces will be for parallel parking.

Handicapped parking will be available near the north shelter on the north end of rotary park and between the ball field and the north shelter.

• Security

While members of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety will be on hand, Austin said, "it is Sikeston's responsibility to make sure the Wall isn't damaged while it's here."

Austin said he doesn't anticipate anyone purposely trying to damage the Wall, but there needs to be some people watching to make sure visitors don't accidentally damage it by trying to take rubbings with the wrong materials -- and to be able to politely advise them of the proper way to get a rubbing from the Wall.

Those interested in volunteering are asked to come to either the volunteer committee meeting scheduled at 7 p.m. today or the last meeting scheduled at 7 p.m. Aug. 31 at V.F.W. Hall on Smith Street.

Austin said the meetings generally take "about 45 minutes or so, depending on how many questions we get."

"If someone can't make either of those meetings and still wants to volunteer, they can call my wife, Linda Austin, at 471-5518 or 380-0761," Austin advised.