A booth that was used to honor lost soldiers near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has burned to the ground. All that was left Tuesday of the kiosk was its blackened remains, pieces of the American flag, charred prisoner-of-war bracelets and a dirty sign that said, “We will not forget.” The memorial wall was not damaged.
Walt Sides, a founder of veterans group Rolling Thunder, which operated and staffed the kiosk around the clock, says the organization plans to rebuild. The booth had been on the premises for more than 20 years.
Rolling Thunder will have to go through the permitting process again and show that it has eliminated whatever issue caused the fire “so that what happened Monday night never happens again,” U.S. Park Service spokesman Bill Line said Tuesday.
“It’s a tragedy, and we hate to see that happen,” said Lisa Gough, director of communications of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, which donated the wall and a nearby statue of three Vietnam servicemen to the Interior Department in 1982.
The kiosk sat between the Lincoln Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. From it, memorabilia, pins and patches were sold.
Around 11 p.m. Monday, firefighters got a report of a propane fire near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, and found the kiosk completely in flames, said D.C. fire department spokesman Pete Piringer. The fire appears to be accidental, caused when the person working the kiosk tried to operate a faulty space heater. Fire marshals are still investigating. The lone occupant was treated at the scene.
“Anyone who’s been to this area is familiar with this very popular kiosk. Unfortunately, it is a total loss,” Piringer said.
It was the last of at least three structures allowed to go up around the Vietnam Veterans Memorial beginning in the late 1980s, park officials said. The booths were a source of controversy that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which upheld that organizations could not solicit donations on Park Service property.
