By Marie McCain
The Cincinnati Enquirer

BATAVIA - As Clermont County officials prepare for the arrival of a traveling tribute to Vietnam veterans, they're hoping to get some help from area golf courses.

The American Veterans Traveling Tribute exhibit, a 4/5th-scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. will be displayed Sept. 4-7 in Union Township's Veterans Park.

The wall is 378 feet long and 8-feet high at its apex. Like the Washington D.C. wall, it gets progressively taller toward its center. It is fully engraved, and visitors will be able to make etchings of the names.

There will also be a bronze replica of the Vietnam Women's Memorial, a tribute to the service of women in war.

Set-up will begin in Veterans Park at about 7:30 a.m. Sept. 4. The exhibit will open to the public by 2 p.m. and can be viewed 24 hours a day until it leaves Sept. 7, Lance Woodward, director of the Clermont County Veterans' Services Commission, said.

In order to ensure that every veteran is able to see the memorial, event organizers are hoping golf courses will temporarily donate eight golf carts for use during the visit.

"If we could get one golf cart from eight golf courses that would be great," Woodward said.

"We have no idea how many people will visit while it's here, but we know there will be some disabled vets who want to see the wall, and we'd like to be able to transport these folks to the wall in comfort," Woodward said.

Jim West, director of the Family Service Learning Center at the ZF Batavia automobile transmission plant, had the idea to bring the exhibit to Clermont County.

The learning center is an organization of employees at the ZF Batavia plant, which cooperates with the United Auto Workers union and Ford Motor Co., to provide volunteer opportunities for its members, West said.

West, who served in the Army, wanted to get the exhibit after it appeared in Sterling Heights, Mich., at a sister agency operated by a Ford Motor plant there.

"I always felt guilty and somewhat excluded because I wasn't actually in Vietnam, but since I've gotten involved in this, all the other veterans have reached out to me. Everyone has been so supportive," West said.

---

For more information, call the Clermont County Veterans Services Commission, 732-7363.

---

E-mail mmccain@enquirer.com