Wilderville resident Fred Salanti plans to pay tribute to more than 100 old friends late Wednesday morning.

He will be among the members of the Patriot Guard Riders, veterans who will rev up their motorcycles to escort the Vietnam "Traveling Wall" Memorial from the Valley of the Rogue State Park to the Department of Veterans Affairs' Southern Oregon Rehabilitation Center and Clinics in White City.

"I've deliberately avoided the wall for more than 30 years," said Salanti, 58, a disabled veteran who was a major with an Army infantry unit that fought in Vietnam from early 1968 through most of 1969.

"I have 100-plus friends on that wall," he said, noting he felt it was time to pay his respects.

The wall, which has 58,215 names of Americans killed in Vietnam, will be available for viewing by to the public beginning at noon Thursday through Sunday. At 370 feet long and eight feet high, it is a replica of the granite Vietnam Memorial wall in Washington, D.C.

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The ribbon cutting ceremony for the traveling tribute at SORCC, affectionately known as the domiciliary, will be by World War II veteran Gordon Bentson. That will be followed by short speeches by state Rep. Dennis Richardson, R-Central Point, Ashland mayor John Morrison, Purple Heart Foundation member and former Marine William Walker and Jackson County Commissioner C.W. Smith. All the speakers are veterans.

Members of the Native American Veterans Council also will be represented.

Any veteran with a motorcycle — or any vehicle — is invited to join in the wall escort on Wednesday, Salanti said.

Participants should meet at the park by 11:30 a.m., then escort the traveling memorial to the domiciliary beginning at noon, he said.

After the wall arrives at the facility, the Patriot Guard Riders will continue to the Eagle Point National Cemetery, where a chaplain from the domiciliary will hold a short ceremony.

"We're doing this out of respect for every veteran," Salanti said.