Pictured is Melanie Ginn (center) on the final day of The Wall That Heals Sunday afternoon in Liberty. Ginn had several people acknowledge the great job she did in bringing mobile Wall to Liberty and Pickens County.
LIBERTY — The last four years, Melanie Ginn has had a vision of one day bringing The Wall That Heals to the Pickens County area.
It finally happened last week (May 15-18) at Deerwood Farms in Liberty and all she could do is light up with a big smile. Then on Sunday afternoon, her emotions kicked in with tears-of-joy for this memorable event.
“My first impression — seeing it all lit up — you just can’t describe it,” Melanie said. “It’s an unbelievable feeling to see it at night. It’s exciting to see it here and all. God has a plan and a purpose. We are here today and that was the plan and purpose.”
This big event started when Tim Tetz, the Director of Outreach for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, gave a one-hour presentation on the magnitude of the Vietnam War. Tetz went on to say that 141 communities submitted an application to host the wall in 2025 — and only 30 were selected.
“To apply for it to come to your host town, they want you to come out and experience it because they want you to understand the scale that it takes to come to your community,” said Melanie. “Plus, going and having a behind-the-scenes tour they know that you are serious about wanting it to come to your community. They want to make this as close to the Washington experience as possible and as close to the healing, honoring and remembering, and never forgetting our Vietnam veterans.”
Ginn traveled to Knoxville, Tenn., close to four years ago to see The Wall That Heals. She also went to Charlotte, N.C., and then locally to Spartanburg.
“She (Ginn) has the biggest heart for veterans of anybody,” said American Legion Post 52 Commander Walt Carter. “I know she is do dedicated to every veteran who comes in that office. She is always going above and beyond. She only gets paid for 7 1/2 hours a day, but she puts in way over that per day. I can’t get her to leave because she wants to make sure the job is done and done right.”
A major driving force for Ginn, too, was her father-in-law (Louie Ginn) who is a Vietnam Veteran.
“When I was introduced to the family 35 years ago, he didn’t really talk about Vietnam,” Ginn said. “I was working for another company at the time and when I came to work for the Pickens County Veterans Affairs office eight years ago, I had a better understanding of the exposure that those Vietnam veterans were exposed to and knowing some challenges that he was having as well, and working with other veterans in the office. He (Louie) started opening up more as we started to have those conversations.”
Overall, this is an experience that Ginn says she’ll never forget. Her father-in-law came from Greenville County to Liberty for the event and her great-nephew Parker Williams played Taps this past weekend.
“There is no one in the Pickens County community that cares more about military veterans than Melanie Ginn,” said Tim Conrad, veteran advocate for Upstate Warriors Solution. “The hard work that she does — it doesn’t matter if it is at the VA office or bringing in a great thing like The Wall That Heals. The time that she puts in, the paperwork she has to do an constantly trying to get the word out. Bar none — she did awesome.”
Reach Jeff Holt at 864-855-0355.