The Wall that Heals arrived in Knoxville, Tenn. on Thursday. Whether it’s the first or 100th time they’re seeing the wall, many veterans get emotional seeing the names of their brothers and sisters in combat in stone.

Phil Rodgers is a Vietnam Era Veteran, originally from Toledo. He was only 17 when he joined the U.S. Army. “I joined the army on August 16, 1968, and I got out Friday the 13th in 1971,” he proudly told Erie News Now.

In his words, he chases The Wall that Heals to different locations around the country.

“I had survivor’s guilt from not going to Vietnam,” he remembers. Rodgers was ready to be a soldier in the Vietnam Infantry, but he never made it overseas. He’s blind in his right eye, so he wasn’t allowed in combat. Instead, he was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Now to help those who witnessed the horrors of the Vietnam War, he helps the healing the best way he knows how, playing “Taps” on his harmonica behind The Wall that Heals.

“It’s not about me. That’s why I’m behind the wall and incognito,” Rodgers said.

Soldiers like Dave Monroe are still healing from the trauma of the war 50 years later.

“It’s hard. It’s hard for me. It’s even hard for me to think about,” Monroe said.

It’s hard for him to see all those names of his military brothers and sisters in stone. “I know some guys from the Army that are on the wall. I know a couple of Marines that are on the wall. It’s just hard for me to go up there and look at it,” he said.

No matter how hard it is, veterans we spoke with say healing is vital to surviving after serving in the military, even if the healing comes decades after they were in combat.

“It’s just the fact that you see those 50,281 names, and you realize a lot of those guys were just teenagers and very young guys when they died.” Monroe said, “They never had a chance to have a life.”

 “This wall allows us all to be open minded,” Rodgers said, “Their legacy will live on. What I do here, the legacy will live on.”

The Wall that Heals will arrive in Erie County at the Zem Zem Shrine Club on Memorial Day Weekend. Rodgers says he is going to try to make the trip to Erie, so he can play “Taps” there, too.