Groups hope to honor Tarrant County Vietnam War veterans with new memorial
FORT WORTH, Texas - Several veteran organizations in Fort Worth are working to honor local fallen military service members during the Vietnam War.
Though other monuments in Tarrant County honor Vietnam vets, project organizers say there is no monument currently that memorializes each name of the more than 200 local fallen service members.
The group will choose from more than a dozen artistic submissions from local students, which will serve as the inspiration for the actual memorial.
Steve Dumovich served in the Marine Corps in Vietnam from 1966 to 1967. He says a number of the people he served with never made it back home.
“You always think about those that never made it back and never got to go to a Marine Corps event because they just didn't come back,” he said.
It's part of the reason why Dumovich and other veterans are pushing forward with a project to honor the more than 200 fallen Vietnam veterans from Tarrant County.
Veterans from VFW groups, the American Legion and more are partnering with the Fort Worth Aviation Museum and the city to make it happen.
“With this war, we've got 221 individuals who went to war, whether they liked it or not in some cases. Some enlisted. Others were drafted,” said Jim Hodgson with the aviation museum. “But they went and they served, and they gave up their life for this country. And we owe them a debt of gratitude. We don't owe to them to be forgotten.”
The group has preliminary approval from the city to place the memorial in Veterans Memorial Park, but where in the park hasn't been decided.
The group put a call out to local students to help design the memorial. They received 15 submissions from students in elementary school all the way up to high school.
“We need, as a country and as a community, to recognize these people,” Hodgson said. “To have something hard they can go and look at and find their relative, find their friend and know those names are going to be there in perpetuity.”
The group will narrow the designs down with input from the public and the city.
The cost of the project will depend on the final design chosen, but the group estimates they need to raise at least $20,000. They hope to fund the project with enough donations to break ground by June and dedicate the memorial in September 2020 to go along with the Medal of Honor convention in Fort Worth.
It may seem insignificant to a lot of people: 221 individuals. But each one of them had a life. They had mothers, fathers, families, family,” Hodgson said. “There are people here today who are enjoying freedom and they're enjoying their lifestyle. They're enjoying a lot of things because of the sacrifices these people have made.”
The group plans to have a public vote on their favorite designs and collect donations for the memorial at the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth on January 4, 2020.
Donation Link: https://kindest.com/campaign/tarrant-county-vietnam-war-era-memorial