“Wall Magic” describes miraculous, unbelievable coincidences at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The Wall has many stories surrounding it—stories of friends who reconnect, of families who meet men who served with their loved ones, of friendships and marriages forged there. These occurrences come about through events that seem more than coincidence and bring their own story of healing.
Volunteers at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial have seen many instances of Wall Magic. These stories, and there are many, involve these remarkable moments that happened at or because of The Wall.
An early Wall Magic story comes from Doubek, who worked so hard to make the dream of a Memorial a reality. In the final days before the National Salute to Vietnam Veterans in 1982, construction and landscaping crews still had the Memorial fenced off in order to keep crowds off the newly laid sod. Doubek was down at the site, wrapping up for the night. A young man approached and asked if he could go down to The Wall. Doubek asked him to return another time. The young man said he was from California and still in the military. He had to leave the next day.
Doubek agreed to walk the man down to The Wall. “As we were walking, I was telling him how the [panels] are like pages in a book. He was getting emotional. I had the directory with me. So we looked up the location of this name, then he thanked me and left.”
The morning after the dedication, Doubek and his wife were watching Charles Kuralt on “CBS Sunday Morning.” Kuralt traditionally ended the show with a snippet of film, and that day, he showed footage of the Memorial. Gradually the camera moved in closer, Doubek recalled, “until you were seeing one wall . . . then 10 panels . . . then one panel . . . then a few rows of names . . . then the camera stopped to focus on a single name . . . and it was the same name that the guy had asked me to see.”
He sat stunned for a moment, then thought to himself, “Maybe that guy was an angel telling me I’ve done OK.”
That day, Doubek experienced a little bit of Wall Magic.
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Wall Magic: Volume 1 is available now on Amazon
Those of us who stand at The Wall know of the unbelievable coincidences, twists of fate and, well, “magical moments” that bring long-awaited healing and reunite loved ones. These “Wall Magic” stories were submitted from our volunteers so that you can experience it for yourself. Look for more stories in future volumes.This book is dedicated to the selfless volunteers at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, those who know firsthand that Wall Magic is as real as The Wall itself. They make visits to The Wall magical for so many . . .
Listen to a Wall Magic story: “And there she was”