30 year anniversary of Idaho State Vietnam Veterans Memorial groundbreaking

Thirty years ago the Idaho State Vietnam Veterans Memorial had its groundbreaking, and on Saturday a celebration was held at Freeman Park in Idaho Falls to mark the anniversary.

The 24 foot tall monument was designed by area veteran Tom Cristwell. The back of the statue has the names of the 251 Idahoans killed during the Vietnam War.

On Saturday, veterans shared their stories and shared memories of trying to get the monument built 30 years ago.

“We had to fight the state of Idaho to have this be the official Idaho Vietnam Veteran Memorial. So we had to go appear before the Legislature and states our reasons why it should be. And basically, we said, ‘Well, because we’re doing it!’ It’s great to talk about it being in Boise, but you haven’t built one and we did. So we got it through the Legislature,” said DelRay John, a Vietnam veteran who pushed for the building of the memorial.

The Idaho veterans listed on the monument are also in a book called “Why We Remember.” It has details of their personalities, lives and families.