The Augusta-Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) Vietnam War Veterans Memorial is a granite and bronze monument placed in Augusta, Georgia, March 29, 2019, to honor the CSRA's 169 Vietnam War dead, three Ex-Prisoners of War (Vietnam), and one former Missing in Action (MIA) as well as the region's 15,000 surviving Vietnam War Veterans. The memorial is located in the "Olde Town" section of Augusta, Georgia, on the Broad Street median between Third and Fourth Streets. The monument was designed, purchased, and placed by the Augusta Chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW) and the chapter's 17 community partners who made up the Augusta-CSRA Vietnam War Memorial Initiative (VWMI) Steering Committee. [1]
The memorial's objective is to honor the service and sacrifice of the Augusta and Central Savannah River Area's (CSRA) U.S. military service members who served in Vietnam. [2] The memorial was placed in support of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War (2012-2025), as declared by the U.S. Congress (Public Law 110–181, Section 598) and the Department of Defense's Vietnam War Commemoration program. [3]
The memorial's front center-right and center-left panels identify each of the 169 service members from the Augusta and Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) who lost their lives in Vietnam. The mid-center panel portrays a map of the Vietnam theater of operations and the inscription "Spirit of Freedom." The far right and far left front panels depict the names of the region's three EX-POWs and one MIA, an engraving of the Three Soldiers statue in Washington, D.C., and a quote from former President Ronald Reagan's commemoration address, delivered on the National Mall, November 11, 1984:
Those who fought in Vietnam are part of us, part of our history. They reflected the best in us. No number of wreaths, no amount of music and memorializing will ever do them justice, but it is good for us that we honor them and their sacrifice .... The men and women of Vietnam fought for freedom in a place where liberty was in danger. They put their lives in danger to help a people in a land far away from their own. Many sacrificed their lives in the name of duty, honor, and country. All were patriots who lit the world with their fidelity and courage. [4]
The reverse of the memorial recognizes each of the five branches of the Armed Services who fought in Vietnam, displays engraved period photographs from each service, and provides service statistics from each service branch. The reverse also displays the names of the 17 organizations who partnered with the Augusta Chapter of the MOWW for design, purchase, and placement of the monument.
The memorial's centerpiece is a 220-pound solid bronze eagle sculpture titled Spirit of Freedom, which stands 3.5 feet high and has an expansive wingspan of five feet in length. The sculpture was purchased by a single donor from a bronze sculpture and art company located in California. Inscriptions beneath the bronze eagle sculpture read, "Spirit of Freedom" (front) and "God Bless the USA" (reverse).
The memorial was finalized in August 2019, with the placement of a Vietnam-era bronze Soldier's Cross, a granite pedestal, four engraved granite benches, four additional granite mantle pieces, and four bronze recognition plaques. [5]
The memorial's location was selected due to the site's close proximity to Augusta's All Wars Monument, Korean War Monument and Purple Heart Monument, and due to the historical significance of the "Olde Town" Augusta region. [6]
The memorial's cost of production was just over $100,000 [7] which was raised entirely through donations and private contributions. The memorial was constructed by Star Granite and Bronze Company of Elberton, Georgia, a Matthews International Corporation subsidiary. [8]
March 29, 2019 – National Vietnam War Veterans Day – was chosen for the memorial's unveiling and dedication ceremony due to the significance of the date to Vietnam War veterans and their families. The ceremony's keynote speaker was Major General James E. Livingston, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret), Medal of Honor Recipient (1970) for actions above and beyond the call of duty in the Republic of South Vietnam, May 1968. General Livingston was born and raised in Telfair County, Georgia and now resides in Charleston, South Carolina. The ceremony also included remarks from Augusta's Mayor Hardie Davis, Jr., Congressman Rick Allen of Georgia's 12th District, Commissioner Michael Roby of the Georgia Department of Veterans Service, and Brigadier General Christopher L. Eubank, Chief of U.S. Army Signal and the Signal School Commandant. [9]
Ceremony highlights included a static display of numerous vintage military vehicles, courtesy of Augusta's former Mayor, the Honorable Robert Wood Young and Team Rubicon, musical performances of "Some Gave All" and "God Bless the USA" by the Fort Gordon Joint Service Choir, special bagpipe selections played by local musician Gary Hassan, poetry written in honor of Vietnam service members who were killed in action by SGM Douglas P. Hastings, U.S. Army (retired), [10] and a three-volley salute and the playing of Taps conducted by the Fort Gordon Installation Support Detachment. Officiating clergy was Reverend Robert D. Fain, Church of the Good Shepherd, Augusta, Georgia. [11]
The memorial's proponent organization was the Military Order of the World Wars (MOWW) Augusta Chapter. [12] MOWW is a patriotic Veterans Service Organization whose motto is, "It is nobler to serve than to be served." MOWW was founded at the suggestion of General of the Armies John J. Pershing in 1919 to promote good citizenship, patriotic education, and military and public service. MOWW chapters provide opportunities to support patriotic education, ROTC and JROTC, scouting, monuments and memorials, law and order, and national and homeland security programs. [13] The memorial project was completed in accordance with the Order's "Preamble" as noted on the organization's official website. [14]
The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, commonly called the Vietnam Memorial, is a U.S. national memorial in Washington, D.C., honoring service members of the U.S. armed forces who served in the Vietnam War. The two-acre (8,100 m2) site is dominated by two black granite walls engraved with the names of those service members who died or remain missing as a result of their service in Vietnam and South East Asia during the war. The Wall, completed in 1982, has since been supplemented with the statue Three Soldiers in 1984 and the Vietnam Women's Memorial in 1993.
The United States Marine Corps War Memorial is a national memorial located in Arlington County, Virginia. The memorial was dedicated in 1954 to all Marines who have given their lives in defense of the United States since 1775. It is located in Arlington Ridge Park within the George Washington Memorial Parkway, near the Ord-Weitzel Gate to Arlington National Cemetery and the Netherlands Carillon. The memorial was turned over to the National Park Service in 1955.
The National War Memorial in Downtown St. John's is the most elaborate of all the post World War I monuments in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was erected at King's Beach on Water Street where, in 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert claimed Newfoundland for England. It was formally unveiled on Memorial Day, July 1, 1924 by Field Marshal Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig.
The Hmong and Lao Memorial, or Lao Veterans of America Monument, is a granite monument, bronze plaque and living memorial in Arlington National Cemetery in the US. Dedicated in May 1997, it is located in Section 2 on Grant Avenue between the path to the JFK memorial and the Tomb of the Unknowns, in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia, in the United States. The Laos–Hmong memorial commemorates the veterans of the "Secret War" in Laos who fought against invading Soviet Union-backed North Vietnam Army forces of the People's Army of Vietnam and communist Pathet Lao guerrillas. Approved by the U.S. Department of Defense, Arlington National Cemetery, and the U.S. Department of the Army, but designed and paid for privately by the Lao Veterans of America, Inc., the Lao Veterans of America Institute, and The Centre for Public Policy Analysis, the memorial stands as a tribute to the Hmong, Lao, other ethnic groups, and American clandestine and military advisers who made up the Secret War effort during the Vietnam War. The Lao Veterans of America, Inc. is the nation's largest ethnic Laotian- and Hmong-American veterans organization.
Veterans Park Amphitheater is a 2,500-seat amphitheater located in Albany, Georgia. It is part of a sports, entertainment and convention complex that also includes the Albany Civic Center and Albany Municipal Auditorium. From its opening in the mid 1980s into the mid 1990s, the amphitheater was an anchor for two major annual events in Albany; River Days in the spring and Fall on the Flint. It is now primarily used for concerts and Memorial Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day celebrations.
The Indiana World War Memorial Plaza is an urban feature and war memorial located in downtown Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, originally built to honor the veterans of World War I. It was conceived in 1919 as a location for the national headquarters of the American Legion and a memorial to the state's and nation's veterans.
Faces of War Memorial is a Vietnam War memorial located in Roswell, Georgia, in the United States. It is located on the grounds of Roswell City Hall and was dedicated on Memorial Day on May 29, 1995.
The Town of Tonawanda Veterans Memorial is a public memorial in the Town of Tonawanda, New York. It is located in Walter M. Kenney Field at the northwest corner of Brighton Road and Colvin Boulevard. The memorial stands to honor the service of all veterans of the United States Armed Forces.
Zenos Frudakis, known as Frudakis, is an American sculptor whose diverse body of work includes monuments, memorials, portrait busts and statues of living and historic individuals, military subjects, sports figures and animal sculpture. Over the past four decades he has sculpted monumental works and over 100 figurative sculptures included within public and private collections throughout the United States and internationally. Frudakis currently lives and works near Philadelphia, and is best known for his sculpture Freedom, which shows a series of figures breaking free from a wall and is installed in downtown Philadelphia. Other notable works are at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia, Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina, the National Academy of Design, and the Lotos Club of New York City, the Imperial War Museum in England, the Utsukushi ga-hara Open Air Museum in Japan, and the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa.
The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice is a war memorial in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located west of North Front Cemetery, at the junction of Winston Churchill Avenue and Devil's Tower Road. The Cross of Sacrifice was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1917, and his monument is found in numerous Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries. The cross in Gibraltar was erected by the Royal Engineers for the commission, and unveiled on Armistice Day 1922. The British Pathé film recorded at the dedication ceremony that day represents the first motion picture made in Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice served as the focus of Remembrance Sunday ceremonies in Gibraltar until 2009, at which time the location was changed to the Gibraltar War Memorial.
The Military Working Dog Teams National Monument is a monument to military working dogs located at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA)-Lackland in San Antonio, Texas. The monument represents handlers, dogs, and veterinary support, from all military service branches that have made up the Military Working Dog program since World War II. The monument grounds include a 3,000 square feet granite plaza, granite pedestals, granite history wall, granite benches and water fountain. The granite pedestals have large bronze statues of dogs and handlers. The monument was dedicated on October 28, 2013.
The Military Order of the World War was created in 1919 at the suggestion of General of the Armies John J. Pershing as a fraternity for American military officers coming out of the Great War. Two decades later, when the USA became involved in WWII the organization name was pluralized to its current title of Military Order of the World Wars. Though the Order's title has not changed since 1945, it remains an officers’ society welcoming new qualified members in current military service, retired military service, or former military service and has members from the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, War in Afghanistan, War in Iraq, and peacetime service.
The Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial in London commemorates British citizens, including both military personnel and civilians, who participated in the Gulf War, the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War. In these three conflicts, which took place between 1990 and 2015, 682 British service personnel died. A work by the sculptor Paul Day, the memorial is situated in Victoria Embankment Gardens, between the River Thames and the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence, in the vicinity of monuments commemorating the Second World War and the Korean War.
The Four Southern Poets Monument, also known as the Monument to Southern Poets and Poets' Monument, is a granite monument in Augusta, Georgia, in the United States.
The Queens Vietnam Veterans Memorial is a memorial at Elmhurst Park in Elmhurst, Queens, New York City in honor of the veterans of the Vietnam War of 1955–1975. It was designed by Landscape Architects Denise Mattes and Frank Varro, and fabricated by Sprung Monuments, Corinthian Cast Stone Inc., and Barre Granite Association Inc.
The Doughboy is a war memorial and neighborhood landmark in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Located at the Y-shaped intersection of Lawrenceville's two busiest commercial streets, Butler Street and Penn Avenue, the monument has become a symbol of the neighborhood and "probably the most well known veterans monument in Pittsburgh". In 2019, it was listed as a contributing property in the Lawrenceville Historic District.
The Veterans Memorial Park located in Las Cruces, New Mexico was constructed by the Las Cruces Home Builders Association under the direction of the City and was dedicated May 5, 1999. In honor and memorial of the men and women who fought and served in the United States armed forces and in particular, those who served from Las Cruces area, the Veterans Memorial Park exhibits monuments to honor their sacrifices made over the course of history. The history recognized begins from as early as the American Revolutionary War to the present day. The Veterans Memorial Park is organized and guided with a trail that directs visitors to the various monuments scattered throughout the park.
The Washington Heights-Inwood War Memorial, also known as the Inwood Monument, is a World War I (WWI) memorial monument sculpted by Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, with a base by Albert Randolph Ross. It is located at the intersection of Broadway and Saint Nicholas Avenue between 167th and 168th Streets in Mitchel Square Park, New York City, New York.
The Illinois Memorial is a public memorial located at Vicksburg National Military Park in Vicksburg, Mississippi, United States. Dedicated in 1906, it honors the Union Army soldiers from Illinois who fought in the siege of Vicksburg during the Vicksburg campaign of the American Civil War. It was designed by architect William Le Baron Jenney and sculptor Charles Mulligan. It is known to the locals as Echo Hall or the Hollar House.