New Mexico VIII

I have visited the Veterans Memorial in Albuquerque a number of times. The first time I visited the Vietnam memorial was either incomplete or under repair and not suitable for photos. The next time, it was snowing and I was able to get some interesting pics of the recently added statue, but not quite what I wanted. The next time, the site was complete, undamaged and it was not snowing. The following pictures are from this most recent visit.

The soldier here, kneels before a Field Cross, a tradition dating back to the Civil War. Someone had recently placed a small American flag on the statue.

 The face of loss and sorrow, universal to all, is captured, here, so remarkably by the sculptor.

This is the plaque on the wall seen in the first picture. It lists the names of the some 400 New Mexicans who were sacrificed in 'Nam. I know I said the site was undamaged, but on closer inspection there seems to be something missing here.

This plaque sits on the corner of the stone base and explains its color.

There are a number of these stiles explaining the history of the war. I found them to full of inaccuracies. I have no idea if these were just honest mistakes or further examples of the revisionist history that I find, all too often, in my travels. I hope they are just errors because I met some of the folks that run this place and they seem like great people.

There is more than enough here to go on and on, so I will come back to this wonderful site at a later time. this memorial sits among many others in this 25 acre park. It is filled with roses and tributes of many kinds. It can be found near Kirtland AFB at 1100 Louisiana Blvd. in Albuquerque.

Join me on the 19th, when we will revisit New York, as always at 9:00am.

To see other memorials from New Mexico, or any other state, click the state name on the left side of this page.