Val Verde cadets, volunteers repair Vietnam memorial after hail, flooding

Val Verde County Sheriff Cadets, Del Rio Police Cadets and community volunteers moved quickly after hail, rain and flooding hit The Wall That Heals in Del Rio, helping keep the Vietnam memorial replica open for veterans and families who came to pay their respects.

The traveling exhibit, a three-quarter-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., was still on display around the clock in Del Rio as part of its April 16-19 stop on the 2026 national tour. The wall includes a mobile Education Center and is designed to honor the more than three million Americans who served in the U.S. during the Vietnam War.

For many visitors, the draw is the wall itself: 58,281 names engraved on the memorial it replicates. That number has long made the exhibit one of the most emotionally powerful stops on the national tour, and in Del Rio it carried added meaning after storm damage forced local cadets and volunteers to step in with repairs.

The Wall That Heals is scheduled to visit 31 communities in 2026, and Del Rio is one of the Texas stops. It has previously toured other Texas communities, including cities in the Rio Grande Valley, where veterans and local leaders described the memorial as a place for healing and unity. As one Edinburg official said of the display, “it’s about unity, it’s about bringing people together and respect.”

That message resonated in Val Verde County as South Texas has been hammered by heavy rain, flooding, hail and other storm damage this spring. In Del Rio, the repair effort ensured the memorial could remain open for visitors who came at night or early in the morning, when crowds are lighter, and still find a place of remembrance intact.

The response from cadets and volunteers underscored how quickly the community rallied around the wall after the weather hit. In a county where military service and family memory run deep, keeping The Wall That Heals open was about more than maintenance. It was about preserving a place where names, sacrifice and remembrance stayed visible for one more weekend.