NEWBURGH, N.Y. -- Vietnam veteran and Middletown resident Erman DiMunno visited ‘The Wall That Heals’ in Newburgh to reminisce about old friends. 

“I haven't seen them since we went to Vietnam. We grew up together, went to school together, played in the same yard together, played basketball, baseball, running in the same neighborhood,” he said.

And to heal himself so many years after he returned home from war. 

"We didn't get [a] parade," said DiMunno of the treatment he and fellow veterans received when they came home from Vietnam. "It was rough over there, and rough coming home."

The marine was one of those who returned, but his two friends did not. He got to see their names for the first time on the wall when it opened Thursday in Newburgh.

"I didn't know that they were killed when I was there, just when I came home," said DiMunno. "Just kissed them on the wall and did a prayer, you know. That's all that I could show right now, except for a little tears."

Organizers from the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund say that the wall making stops in 38 cities brings those opportunities for closure and healing to veterans and families nationwide.

“We see the ability for veterans to come back and touch and reflect on their buddies and share that with their families, and show the pictures and tell the stories of that,” said Tim Tetz, site manager for The Wall That Heals.  

Local Vietnam Army veteran and Purple Heart recipient Kenny Zipp says he found some of his friends on the wall, too. 

"It means a lot because these are my brothers who are no longer here,” said Zipp, who was injured twice in Vietnam. “It's heartbreaking in a way, you know, it's something I can't bring to words. But, they know how I feel."

The Wall That Heals sits on display at the People's Park on the Newburgh waterfront. Visitors can experience the wall 24 hours a day through Aug. 5. 

Next to the wall is a visitor center, designed like a mini mobile museum. The center has artifacts left by visitors to the wall in Washington, D.C. and video screens showing those from the local area killed in action in Vietnam, and who died after returning home. 

Tetz says the visuals help people locally connect to the wall, and put faces to the names.

"It really ties that into the Newburgh and greater region and allows people to come down and reflect on a national memorial in their backyard," said Tetz. 

Jim Williams, a local veteran who helped bring the wall to Newburgh, says he hopes people will visit the wall and remember those sacrifices made.

"There's a lot of people in this area who can't go to Washington, D.C. and look at things like this so this presents an opportunity for the whole Hudson Valley to come down and look at this," said Williams.

And honor those who made them.

"They did what they were asked to do, and 58,318 didn't come back," said Williams.