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 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.