Louisiana VIII

In what I believe was my very first post from Louisiana, I commented that the state seemed to have no official memorial but, that there were two in New Orleans.

That was June 11, 2012. Now, I just read that an official Louisiana State Memorial, honoring all 885 lost, was dedicated on Saturday March 29,2025: the 30th anniversary of the fall of Saigon.

Congratulations Louisiana.

Until I can get back to Louisiana, I will continue to try to honor those lost or who served in any way that I can.

One of the very first pictures I ever took in the state was not far from the airport at Dignity Memorial Gardens and seems to honor a number of Air Force vets who were captured. (This is one of the times I hope to hear from someone more knowledgeable that I am as I cannot track down information on the site.)

These names are crops from the 35 names listed here. Some are so weathered that they hard to read.

 

 

These photos were taken from the Wall of Faces, part of VVMF's effort to gather a face for every name on The Wall. You can see the thousands more they have collected here.

Next time, on the 26th of April, we will venture, again, to  Maryland, so, join me, 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.

Louisana XII

I know that I promised to return to Maine in the last post, but I decided while looking over some old photos to do something a little different first.

Whenever I find a memorial with our brothers and sisters represented, I take a "portrait" of the faces. In looking through some of these today. I thought I would begin to feature them here, too.

So, today, these are from the Vietnam memorial in New Orleans. as I have said previously it is one of two in the city and the only one with soldiers represented. This memorial stands at the Super-dome on the Poydras Street side. It is elevated so you must either look up or climb up to the above street level to see it.

Over the years I have had the honor to meet a few of the sculptors of some of these memorials. They tell me that in most cases the people represented are not actual individuals, but imaginary or, sometimes, composites of many, many people. I have not been able to determine which is the case for these three warriors (top) who are trying to rescue their fallen brother (the last pic.) In fact, the very few exceptions of which I am aware is The Three Servicemen statue in DC, adjacent to The Wall. Two of the three there are said to be of specific individuals and the third is a composite of a couple of guys. One other exception, as a coincidence, in in Iberville, Louisiana.

So, next time, on the 2nd, we will actually return to Maine, so, join me there, as always at 9:00am. Occasionally, I will post additional "The Faces of Remembrance" photos, here.

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

Louisiana X

 

The area is called Arcadiana and is made up of several Parishes (Counties), the first non native settlers came from Arcadia in Canada and we have come to know them as Cajuns.

This memorial lies in Lafayette, west of New Orleans, about 150 miles, in a Veterans Park that has several other memorials to others that served.

According to some official literature I read, it honors the 141 men from the area who were lost in "Nam. I have seen other literature that claims 82, another that lists 21, so I went back to my pics, blew them up and counted, three times, 125. I guess it varies with time, who is doing the counting, and what areas they are including in the count.

Nearby, a single marker.

Next time, on the 8th, we will return to Maryland, so meet me there at 9:00am

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

Louisiana VI

Not far from New Orleans is the city of Houma in Terrebonne Parish. They have an interesting Veteran's Park that runs along side the road. Within lie a number of monuments including this one to Vietnam, in addition, there are a number of smaller, seemingly, personal tributes.

There is, also, a bell hanging at the entrance. This is used at various ceremonies and all who visit are encouraged to ring it in remembrance of the lost.

The park can be found along Rte 113 near the intersevtion with St. Charles.

For more info, you can check here;

http://www.bayouvets.com/park.htm

On the 11th we will explore Rhode island, starting with the state memorial at Exeter. Join me there at 9:00am.

Louisiana V

Between Armstrong International Airport and New Orleans sits the Dignity Memorial Gardens. I have visited a number sites in this chain of cemeteries and, so far, each has had some kind of Veteran's memorial on site.

The memorial here has a specific monument to Vietnam. This is not always the case so I was eager to see and photograph it. It is located right on Airline Drive so it is easy to find upon leaving the airport.

The area in which it is located has a large state shaped sign proclaiming Louisiana Remembers. There are several memorials here to different actions. What struck me about this one was that it only listed 35 names of lost Louisianans. I have attempted to find out why this is and how these particular names were chosen, but have not heard back from them at this point. As always, if I do hear from them I will post an update.

From here we will visit Houma in Terrebonne Parish on July 6th at 9:00 AM

Louisiana II

Only a few blocks from the Superdome, at the intersection of Basin and Iberville Streets, is this memorial built by the Vietnamese ex-patriot veterans to thank locals for their help and support to Vietnam. Only a block or so off the main drag, Canal Street, I wonder how many times I have passed it without noticing.

As usual, I have spent much time trying to find additional information about this site. As usual, I have have not had much luck. I invite anyone who knows more about this to contact me. there is an email on the left side of this site. I would love to hear from you. A couple of posts back was an update from some good folks in Oregon who sent me additional info on a site I had visited there. So, I will use it if you get it to me.

For now, I will just let the pics speak for themselves.

The last picture is a dedication in English and Vietnamese. It is very hard to read today as it is quite worn. Even though I took these pics to show it in its best light, the memorial is falling into disrepair and its age is beginning to show. I had to carefully align the shots so as not to show all the garbage and evidence that someone is actually living inside the wall that surrounds it. I hope it is not a vet. That would be the final irony.

Louisiana

Louisiana is one of those states that seems to not have an official Vietnam memorial. However, two are located within the city of New Orleans. Dedicated to the 883 fallen and 38 MIAs, this life sized sculpture of soldiers carrying their wounded comrade to safety is located at the Superdome. I have read reports that all the names are listed here, but in my several visits, over several years, I have never found them. There is a interesting set of plaques that run along the surrounding safety wall that attempt to tell the story of American involvement in Vietnam.

The memorial is located on the Poydras Street side of the dome and can only be accessed on foot. From the street you must look up to see it as it is on the raised area surrounding the dome.

Interestingly, after the discussion in the last post about what memorial was the first in the country, I read a report online of a newspaper article claiming that this memorial, dedicated in 1984, was the first in the county. While we know better than that, it is interesting that the discussion continues. As I said in the last post, the earliest, that I am aware of, is in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dedicated in 1966.

The last photo reminds me of being there for the "Free" elections in '67. ARVN (Army Republic of Viet Nam) 2 and 1/2 ton trucks rolled into towns and villages to round up the citizens, sometimes at gun point, to go vote in the "free" elections. It was about this time that my faith that we were assisting in a noble cause was finally destroyed. I decided that from here on in, I just wanted to get home safely.

The next post will be of the other memorial within New Orleans. it is located not far from this one and was built, in appreciation, by the Vietnamese community.