Rain forced the closing ceremonies for the Moving Wall at the VA Center inside today, but dozens of people showed up for the short service. Bill Davis thanked all of the volunteers and donors who made bringing the wall to Batavia possible.

Afterward, a couple of dozen people spent time at the Wall before its removal.

The Batavia VA is the next stop for the Vietnam Moving Wall that is scheduled to arrive this Thursday. The Moving Wall, which is a half-size replica of the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial located in Washington, DC, will be open to the public 24 hours a day from June 24 until June 28.

The "Ride for Pride" which is an open ride for all motorcycle groups will escort the wall to the VA. "I heard we may be having upwards of 1000 or more motorcycles for this event" says Bill Davis, who is helping to coordinate the event. The ride is set to begin at 8am at LeRoy Hearth & Home and will be traveling down Route 5 to the VA. The wall is expected to arrive in Batavia around 8:30. The ride will be escorted and represented by local, county and state police agencies.

The arrival of the wall will officially begin officially on Thursday night at the VA with an opening ceremony beginning at 5pm that will include keynote speaker and Vietnam veteran, Dr. Patrick Welch as well as many other Vietnam veterans.

The Moving Wall has two structures that travel around the country each year and have been for over 20 years. The wall arriving here is coming off a recent visit to Hartford, Connecticut last week.

To accompany the wall being at the VA, the Ghost Riders band will team up with a brass band to perform patriotic songs on Saturday (12:45pm) and military vehicles will be on display all weekend as well. Gulf War Army veteran David Bellavia will be making an address at 1pm Saturday and a non-denominational church service will be lead by Father Ivan Trujillo on Sunday at 2pm.

The wall will depart with closing ceremonies taking place on June 28th at 1pm.