Nevada IX

I thought today in honor of women's month that I would post the only memorial I have found that specifically singles out the Nurses killed in 'Nam from the men.

It happens to be in Nevada at the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery. It is 40 miles east of Reno.

Their names are hard to see here so, here they are: 

1st LT. Sharon Ann Lane USA

2nd LT. Carol Ann Elizabeth Drazba USA

Capt. Elinor Grace Alexander USA

2nd LT. Elizabeth Ann Jones USA

1st LT. Hedwig Diane Orlowski USA

2nd LT. Pamela Dorathy Donovan USA

LT. Col. Annie Ruth Graham USA

Capt. Mary Therese Klinker USAF

There are some interesting stories about some of these women and perhaps I will share them at a later date.

These heroes and the 59 civilian women who died in 'Nam are among the roughly 11,000 who served in the war. I wonder how many of us owe them a debt and how we repay that debt?

Next time, on March 20th, we will return to New Hampshire to honor a few who were lost from the state, so join me there, as usual at 9:00 am. 

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/or were lost in 'Nam, and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos and join the group. 

Nevada VIII

I have written before about Henderson. It lies south of as Vegas and you can check out that post here.

Today, a tribute to the heroes listed as KIAs from Henderson.

this day has unfolded in a much different manner than I anticipated.

Originally, I had pulled some names from what was identified as the KIA memorial section of the Henderson memorial.

I had five names that I wanted to honor. I started looking at the Wall of Faces from VVMF and was surprised to not find the name I was looking for.

Odd, I thought, but VVMF admits that it is still missing a few names, so I didn't give it too much thought.

But, I couldn't locate a face for the second name either. Or the third or fourth. I called City Hall in Henderson and they tried to be helpful, but could not actually help. They did direct me to the specific information they did have, but I couldn't find what I needed.

I started checking other sites that have this type of info and soon learned that none of the names from the Henderson Memorial KIA panel were lost in 'Nam. 

But, I, also, learned the names of a number of men from Henderson who were lost in 'Nam, so today, as planned, I will honor a few of them today.

 

Jack Edward Cossins

 

Wallace Hopkins

Lowell Lunzman

 

I do not know why these heroes are not mentioned on the Henderson Wall. Perhaps I will contact them again to find out. It is completely possible that they have been added since my visit which was actually some years ago.

For now, however, I will simply ask you to join me on the 11th of June when we will return to New Hampshire, as always at 9:00 am.

If you are following along at all, you will have seen that a number of you, like Joan from Wisconsin, Tony from Texas, Mike from Maryland, Ron from Florida, Tim from Virginia, Molly from Florida, Colleen from Pennsylvania, Elli from Maryland, and Peg and Ray from Florida, among others, have responded to my request to send me memorials you have seen in your area or where you may have traveled. I even got one from Ireland! These submissions help expand the knowledge of how we have remembered the men and women who served and/or were lost in 'Nam and you help to honor them. If you have any such photos, I would love to see them. Please send them along to the email at the left and I will gladly share them here.

I hope all those listed here will encourage you to send along photos.

Nevada VII

This small Vietnam memorial was found among a group of others on Pyramid Way in Sparks.

The Sparks Memorial Park, near the Sparks Historical Museum is home to a number of memorials including not only Vets, but Law Enforcement and firefighters, too.

The plaque on the pedestal lists those from various wars that were lost. Eight of these were from Vietnam.

 This bench is the only component dedicated solely to Vietnam.

All of this is slated to change in the relatively near future. A brand new memorial park is gearing up to open. You can rad more about it here: http://nevadaveteransmemorial.org/ So, next time on the 1st of October, we will take a trip back to New Hampshire, so, join me there at 9:00am. To see other memorials from Nevada, or any other state, click the state name on the left side of this page.

Nevada VI

About 40 miles east of Reno is the Northern Nevada Veterans Cemetery. By comparison to some it feels somehow smaller and more intimate.

There is a cluster of memorials to those who were lost in 'Nam, including one to the Nurses lost while caring for the wounded.

POW/MIAs are remembered at least twice. Once with  the nurses and again here at the entrance to the Cemetery.

Vietnam's heroes are as always individually noted, but there are at least two other sites honoring them.  There was actually one more, but the light was so very bright that even in post processing I was unable to reduce the reflection and glare to an acceptable level.

Note  the dates on this marker

Veterans families may choose the kind of interment desired. there are many "Pillow stone" traditional sites as well as these mausoleum type sites. I do not know if this is due to a space issue or just providing a choice.

So, we depart Nevada for now and move on to New Jersey, so join me there on the 23rd at 9:00am.

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

Nevada V

This memorial in Las Vegas does, to the best of my knowledge,  not yet exist.

 I read a lot about it prior to my most recent visit (September 2014)  and expected to find a completed memorial, but when I arrived it was a vacant lot. I was able to track down one of the sponsors, American Shooters, in town. They had a complete mock-up of the site which they kindly let me try to photograph.You will see from the pics that I was not particularly successful: too much bad light, too much glare and trying to focus through sometimes several layers of plastic. I apologize for what are arguably the worst pictures I have ever posted, but, at least you can get an idea of what is coming. 

Later, when talking with one of the guys there, he said, " We have some of the statues in the back, would you like to see them?" Would I!!

They were being stored near the firing range in the shop and I could not help but feel some internal tension. Here I was looking at one of our own with many different kinds of rounds being fired all around, or so it seemed. Many of these guys were firing things in the AR -15 class and I have not been around so much gun fire in many years. I know that many of us like to continue the use of fire arms and that is certainly our right, but when I got home, I never wanted to handle a weapon again.

There are statues of soldiers from The Revolution through the Global War on Terror planned for the site and the Vietnam representative was among those being stored here.

As indicated above, this is actually a multi-war memorial with a number of wars highlighted and I hope to get back to see it and take some pics of the real thing when it is complete.

I just read this morning about another site, the first specific Vietnam memorial that was dedicated very recently, in Vegas, so when I return I will certainly get that one, too.

For now, however, these will begin to tell the story and once, again, I would like to thank the good folks at American Shooters, 3440 Arville Street, for the kind assistance and interest in this project, they could not have been more helpful.

You can read more about this site here:   http://lasvegasveteransmemorial.org/

Next time, on the 8th, we will take another trip to New Jersey, so join me there, at 9:00 am.

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

UPDATE: This afternoon I spoke with John at American Shooters and he told me the memorial will break ground November 11th of this year.

Nevada IV

About 26 miles southeast of Las Vegas is Boulder City, the home of the Southern Nevada Memorial Cemetery. Within the cemetery there is a memorial garden which commemorates those who have been lost from our various involvements over the years. Nearly 6,000 are interred here and 10 of these, Vietnam vets, are honored, forever.

The main memorial to our brothers and sisters from 'Nam is a facsimile of The Wall. It is, of course much smaller and contains the names of those from the area. ( There is, also, a Northern cemetery that I will feature at another time. )

Each name is given its own panel which lists name, date of birth, date of loss, and hometown..

A couple of years ago I met the guy who actually perfected the mean of inscribing The Wall and in his business was a large piece from one of the panels. He explained that a number were damaged or broken during the process of creating them. Even though, this is the only other fragment I have in my travels.

As I was leaving the cemetery, I came upon this particularly beautiful memorial. It, clearly, is dedicated to all and is a beautiful and fitting tribute to those who serve. It surprises some folks how few actually do serve. the number varies, of course, according to the times and conflict, but in general it is usually well under 3% and most often about 1.5%.

Next time, on the 14th, we will return to New Mexico, so, join me there at 9:00am.

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

Nevada III

Henderson, Nevada is a town that sprang up during WWII to help with the war effort. Twenty five percent of all the Magnesium used by the War Department during WWII came from Henderson. Located some 15 miles south of Las Vegas It was a quick trip down to see The Wall that I had read about. Or, so it seemed.

My buddy Steve and I drove down and searched for quite some time, only to find road construction, dead ends and no memorial. I was pretty disappointed, but was finally forced to admit I was not going to find it. I figured that maybe all the construction in the area had displaced it, it has happened before.

While returning from other trips around the state, I decided to give it one more try, I really did not want to miss a memorial, if it was actually available. I called the City Hall and was told that the memorial was right on the grounds and that the first directions I had been using were wrong. So, we made it over and I am very glad we did. As you can see it is quite a memorial, a little off the beaten path, somewhat hidden by the building and some trees, but well worth the effort.

The memorial itself is made up of several walls, each honoring different groups of people. There are currently more than 1500 names of those who have served and/or were lost. there is a central fountain and several flags throughout the site.

There is a specific wall for KIAs, now numbering four, with way too much space, one hopes, for future additions.

I have mentioned on other posts that I am always pleased to see War Dogs remembered, as they are here.

As mentioned earlier the memorial is located at the Henderson City Hall, but is hard to see from the street. You can wander around the building and find it, but we walked in and were directed through the building, perhaps a little easier.

Next time, we will wander back across the country to New Jersey. So, please  join me there on the 7th, as always, at 9:00am.

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

Nevada II

After driving through the mountains from California, my first memorial destination was Reno, Nevada. The snow was 14 feet deep in places and I was astounded that the state was not only able to keep the mountain roads open, they were clear and dry. BIG (unlike ones we see here!)Plows working everywhere as it was snowing as I made the trip, I was impressed. I've never seen snow like this and driving into Truckee, for a quick rest stop, was like going through a tunnel of snow. California and Nevada pledge to keep a couple of roads between the two states open and based on this, they mean it! It was quite an adventure!

The memorial, here, sits in a small park on a street corner on S. Virginia Ave. Watched over by General Jesse Reno, the park honors many including those lost in The Global War On Terror, it has the ships bell from the USS Nevada, Military flags and honors all veterans.

Unfortunately, while in Nevada I was only able to track down these two (Reno and Carson City) sites. So, for now, this is all there are. Since then, I have located a few others and will return when possible to visit them and record them here.

Next, we visit the 50th state, Hawai'i, a state I could return to over and over. There are a couple of nice memorials in this paradise and I invite you to join me in Honolulu to see the official state memorial. Join me on the 28th at 9:00am for the first of this series.

Nevada I

Nevada's Vietnam Memorial may be the most unusual one I have found to date. In many ways it is elegantly simple. It consists of several rocks with plaques bearing the names of the 151 lost and missing from the state. In addition, there are the usual flags and benches. It is in Mills Park in the capitol, Carson City. I had an unusually hard time finding it but was helped by a city employee who knew where it was. Probably the knee high snow complicated things, too!

What makes it unique is that it was built by a VVA group. That by itself may not be surprising. What is surprising is that this VVA Chapter was founded by the Nevada State Correctional Institution Warden and it members are inmates! The native stone that has been used in several buildings in the area was quarried near the prison and shaped and finished by the inmates. In the end it took three chapters of VVA to complete the project and two were made up of incarcerated vets. I have heard that 40% of the homeless are vets and I wonder what the percentage of those imprisoned might be?

Upon the stones are five plaques chronicling the lost and missing. Not surprisingly, '67, '68, and '69 bear the greatest numbers. '68, the year I was there, has the most with 49.

The memorial is located in the Northeast corner of Mills Park, 1111 East William Street, Carson City, NV.

Next time, we will visit Reno, the first memorial I saw in Nevada. Located in a small corner park it honors many. See the Vietnam components on July24th at 9:00am.