California XVIII

I just needed to stop for a bit so I took the next exit and pulled into a town called Visalia. Driving down Mineral King Avenue I saw a sign for the Convention Center and I pulled in to ask about the area. I discovered that the Center had a Vietnam memorial on site. I couldn't believe my luck, except as I have said before, these things happen too often for me to explain.

The memorial is not visible from the street and is located in a open area created by several parts of the building, a courtyard, I guess.


A whole wall of one of the building s has been painted with a huge mural depicting all the services, POW's, field Crosses and a large flag. It is really quite beautiful.

Standing in front of the wall is a stone marker naming the site: A generation Forever Changed.

Also, note the single name of a son lost to the war. Over and over and over again, I have marveled and been deeply touched by what some small towns (129K in this example) do for their lost, even just one guy: Victor Pietroforte.

These are just a couple of shots of some of the detail of the mural.

Visalia is about 190 miles north of Los Angeles.

Next time, on the 13th, we will return to Colorado, so, join me there at 9:00am.

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