New Mexico XXIII

Got a late start today, so this is posting a couple of hours later than usual. Hope to be back on schedule on the next post.

It is said that the New Mexico slogan, Land of Enchantment, comes from Las Cruces. Stunningly beautiful, it more than lives up to this compliment. 

In addition to its natural beauty Las Cruces has quite a remarkable Veterans Park. I have posted from here in the past and promised to return for additional posts. You can see those earlier posts here and here.

 

Some of these new pics come from my visit to the park while the Vietnam memorial seen above was still being planned, so some may seem redundant or perhaps insufficient.  Trust me, they did a great job on the stand alone 'Nam memorial.

 

 

 

This is a place that deserves a visit should you find yourself in the area. It is located at 2651 Roadrunner Parkway.

Next time, on the 24th, we will revisit New York, so join me there, as usual, at 9:00am.

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

I will ask, as I do at the end of nearly every post now, for anyone who has pictures of Vietnam memorials not seen here to please send them to me. I will give you full photo credit for the pic and any information about it you may know. Check your state, or anywhere you may have visited, from the list at the left, or any place else. Please send them to the email at the left or directly to me at Ldddad@comcast.net. Thanks!

New Mexico XVI

Back in June of 2016 I visited Las Cruces, New Mexico to see the wonderful veterans memorial the city has built.

However, once I visited the numerous memorials through out the park it became apparent that there was no memorial to Vietnam. I was somewhat disappointed as you might imagine because I had heard, or read, or something that it was there, while leaving a saw a small bulletin board and on it were a number of notices and flyers. I checked it out and discovered that, in fact, a Vietnam memorial was planned and was in the process of development. I vowed to return.

So, today, I will share the outcome of those efforts.

I called around New Mexico looking for the nearest Veterans organization. I eventually hooked up with Billy Armijo, a Vietnam vet, manning the phones at New Mexico Veterans Services on the day I called. He promised to meet me at the memorial and tell me about it when I made to the area.

Billy, true to his word was waiting for me when I arrived. Today, I will share a few of the pics and promise to come back here another time with some of the other features of this site.

I just love the way the designers placed the Huey which was the final component of this site.

Seems like it is really coming in doesn't it?

Note the text, a bit unusual:

Vietnam War Memorial

Heroes Never Thanked

Many, many, names and faces listed, those lost and those who managed to make it back.

Here is a pic of billy in Da Nang that is featured on the Wall.

Here is a pic of Billy and me at another memorial, in Vado, that he was kind enough to take me to see. You can find more pics of Vado elsewhere on this site.

Next time, on the 30th, we will head back to New York. Join me there as always, at 9:00am.

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

New Mexico XV

Vado lies a short distance from Las Cruces where I went to see the fantastic memorial that was incomplete the last time I visited several years ago, and I promise to tell you more about that in a future post.

Vado is nearly as opposite as it could be from Las Cruces.

It is small, hand built by two guys, and sits on the side of the road.  You might easily say that it is more intimate than its mach lager neighbor less than 20 miles to the North.

The two plaques list those who served in the Era with no designations as to whom may have been in-country, or might have been lost. They are listed by Service with the whole left plaque and part of the right one dedicated to the Army. The other Services are listed on the right panel, too.

POW/MIAs are listed on a separate, smaller plaque and again on a stone nearby.

This journey began as an effort to capture the 50 state memorials and as I have mentioned before it grew into a much larger project and I have been surprised by how much these smaller, perhaps more personal memorials have come to mean to me. This one is no exception, I just love it. Thank you, Vado.

The memorial may be found at 9350 Hwy 478.

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

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

New Mexico XI

I am told that the New Mexico motto, "Land of enchantment" is derived from the awesome beauty of the Las Cruces area. driving down from Santa Fe, this claim would be very hard to dispute.

The memorial here is a multi-war memorial in that it honors all from the area regardless of what war or time in which they fought.

It sits in a large park like area that is clearly still under construction. I read very recently that a chopper has been added to the Vietnam portion of the site and I hope to get back in the not too distant future to re take some photos.

Sections of the large circular wall are marked for the various encounters and as is often the case, the term of the war is interpreted slightly differently. I do not know why this particular one has it beginning in February of 1961, but usually that indicated when the first casualty from the area occurred.

An attempt to tell our story, to try to explain, is not uncommon, either. They are all a little different, I guess, perhaps unintentionally, exposing the beliefs and biases of the writers. If you read any number of them, you recognize that we are still struggling to find the truth. I once told a reader not to be too hard on her teachers because they were not comfortable talking about 'Nam. I told her that it may take several generations to finally come to some kind of agreement about what happened, and that we may never actually get it right.

One of the the things I have run across occasionally is an attempt to blame the whole thing on Kennedy. Revisionist history at its worst. We may never really know what Kennedy might have done, one way or the other, but here are a few demonstrable facts.

President Eisenhower sent the first American soldiers into Vietnam in 1954.

The first American solder was killed in 1956.

When J.F.K. took office, there were between 18,000 and 22,000 American troops in Vietnam, depending on whether you count support troops in bordering countries. 

So, this is exactly my point, the discussion, the arguments, etc., will go on and on until some agreement is come to about "what to leave in and what to leave out" as Bob Segar might say. Seeking and finding the truth is a long and perilous journey.

Finally, I don't usually include other wars on this site, but while I walked around this large and magnificent setting, I came across the following. It gave me pause. 'Nam vets have long spoken about being forgotten, ignored, and disrespected but I had not known that some of our brothers from other wars shared some of these feelings. So, I include this, with respect,

This might be an appropriate spot to remind you that if you click on a picture it will enlarge for easier viewing.

The Veterans Memorial Park can be found at 2651 Roadrunner Parkway

Next time, on the 19th, I will be presenting pictures and stories about these memorials at LZ Maryland at the state fair grounds in Timonium, so if you are in the area, stop by booth 108 in the Exhibition Building and say hello. I will be there all day Saturday and Sunday until 3pm. There will many other amazing things to see and do, so join us, if you can. If you can't check back here for a post from New York, as always at 9:00am.

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