Florida XVII

Punta Gorda is on the Gulf Coast of Florida about 25 miles north of Fort Myers.

I was not sure what to expect as I have not spent too much time on the Gulf Coast. It is simply beautiful and the job the town, the vets, and the people who live there have done on this memorial is spectacular.

It began as an idea to let folks who might never get to DC to have a way to remember and honor those lost and missing from Vietnam.

At Laishley Park, on the Peace River, they built a half scale replica of The Wall in DC. Often these replicas, seen around the country, are retired versions of The Traveling Wall and are made out of aluminum. Here, it was wisely decided to use granite, just like DC, because of the salt in the air and what it might do to  aluminum.

On November 5th, 2016, the Vietnam Wall of  Southwest Florida was dedicated.

There was a huge ceremony with Rolling Thunder, a jet flyover, music, speeches and dignitaries and thousands in attendance.

 There are other memorials here, including one to Vietnam, that I will tell you about at a later date.

 All are reminded why we are here.

 The park and memorial are located at 120 Laishley Court.

Next time, we will revisit Georgia, so meet me there on the 19th, as always, at 9:00am.

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