3“
Art courtesy Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund of Texas
Today is the ground breaking for Texas’ Vietnam Veterans Memorial, lo- 3,243 Texans, including 100 former Texas A&M students, who died in
cated at the Texas State Fair Grounds in Dallas. The memorial will honor Vietnam. Also honored are 162 Texans who are still missing.
Memorial honors Texas vets
“The men serving (in Vietnam) didn’t necessarily agree
with the war, but they felt it was their obligation,” he says.
“We too have an obligation. . . . Whether the Vietnam War
was right or wrong is really irrelevant to what we’re doing. ”
— Roger Thomson,
S&A Restaurant Corp.
By Scott Redepenning
Reporter
Eleven years ago, the last U.S. heli
copter left Vietnam, ending a turbulent
period in American history.
The passengers on that helicopter
were lucky enough to make it out alive.
The Vietnam War claimed the lives of
58,022 Americans and has left more
than 2,400 still missing.
Undoubtedly, some would rather
forget the events surrounding the U.S.
involvement in the 16-year conflict. Yet,
others say it’s important to remember
the Vietnam War and honor those who
served in it.
One such person is Neal Pointer, a
Vietnam veteran from Dallas.
He wanted to honor the many Tex
ans who served in the war with some
sort of monument. Influenced by the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Wash
ington, D.C., he decided on a similar
memorial for Texas, which would list
the names of the 3,243 Texans who
gave their lives in Vietnam as well as the
162 who are still missing.
just a thought in the back of his mind
only two years ago, today Pointer’s idea
will take a major step toward becoming
a reality when the first scoop of earth
will be overturned to begin construction
of the memorial, which will be on the
Texas State Fair Grounds in Dallas. It is
targeted to be finished and opened to
the public May 30, Memorial Day.
Although the ground will be broken
today, this event by no means marks the
birth of the project. Pointer’s idea be
gan to materialize in 1984 when he
started the Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Fund of Texas. The fund, now only
$600,000 away from its $2.5 million
goal, will finance the building and per
petual care of the memorial.
With the project so near to being
completely paid for, today’s ceremony
actually marks the final stages of its de
velopment.
Before any ground could be dis
turbed for the project, the fund’s board
of directors had the hard work of plan
ning.
The first decision to be made was lo
cation of the memorial. The state fair
ground site was chosen because the
board says the area is the most-visited
tourist attraction in the state and pro
vides the optimum opportunity for
Texans to see the memorial.
The memorial will encompass 12,000
square feet and be surrounded by two
acres of landscaped lawns. Entering
through one of two tall arches guarding
each end, visitors will see four large tab
lets of Texas granite, bearing the names
of the 3,243 Texans w ho were killed in
action. Tw t o reflection pools will encir
cle the tablets, and, in the w'est arch, an
eternal flame will keep vigil over a fifth
tablet listing the names of the 162 Tex
ans still missing in action.
Two arbor-covered areas will provide
seating for small groups, and the sur
rounding lawns will be used for ceremo
nies celebrating Veterans Day, Memo
rial Day and other such occasions.
To attract people to the site, the
board has been running events to create
awareness and raise money for the fund
for quite some time.
The fund ran tw'o booths at the State
Fair of Texas. One featured replicas of
the five memorial tablets. Visitors could
sponsor a veteran for $5 and have a star
placed on the replica beside that veter
an’s name. The sponsorship will cover
the cost of engraving the name when
the actual tablets are made.
The other booth featured a scale
model of the memorial and sold com
memorative items such as T-shirts,.hats
and lapel pins as fund-raisers.
Steve Kemble, public relations direc
tor for the fund, says the public re
sponded generously to the booths. He
says hundreds of commemorative items
were sold, and more than 2,000 of the
3,405 veterans have been sponsored.
In addition to the booths, the fund
held its own special veterans day and
MIA Day to promote the memorial. On
the veterans day, a special ceremony
w'as held, at w'hich 3,405 red, w'hite and
blue balloons were released accompa
nied by a military fly-over. The Marine
Drum and Bugle Corp topped the cere
mony w'ith a performance of “The Star-
Spangled Banner.”
On MIA day, 162 American flags
were placed on the memorial site, and a
candlelight service was held in honor of
the missing Texans.
Kemble says that, like the booths,
these events were quite successful. He
says the public’s generous support con
tributed dramatically to the fund.
These contributions, as well as many
private ones, have been the backbone of
the project, he says.
The largest contribution is a
$250,000 match grant from the Mead
ows Foundation, a Dallas institution
that funds art and civic projects. Kem
ble says his organization must raise an
equal amount of money by January to
receive the full grant. This would leave
the fund only $ 100,000 short of its goal.
Other large contributors were Texas
businessmen John Stemmons, Roger
Thomson and Trammell Crow who
each pledged $50,000. All three say
they feel a Texas’ Vietnam veterans
should be honored.
“It w'as our war, whether we liked the
damn thing or not,” says Stemmons,
w ho is chairman of the board for Dallas-
based Industrial Properties Inc. “We’ve
been negligent in not doing something
like this before. We owe it to these men
to go ahead and get this job done.”
Thomson, executive vice president of
S&A Restaurant Corp., says any moral
issues behind the war don’t matter.
“The men serving (in Vietnam)
didn’t necessarily agree with the war,
but they felt it was their obligation,” he
says. “We too have an obligation. . . .
Whether the Vietnam War was right or
wrong is really irrelevant to what we’re
doing.”
Crow', founder of the industrial giant
Trammell Crow' Co., says Americans
harbor deep emotions regarding Viet
nam, and the memorial will help focus
these feelings.
Crow’s message is right on target in
summing up the purpose of the memo
rial.
“We should remember, applaud and
honor the men who served our coun
try,” he says. “We shouldn’t forget these
brave men.”^