A proposed memorial to South Vietnamese forces fighting in the war has run into surprisingly strong opposition among U.S. veterans in Wichita, Kansas. A decision on whether to permit construction was postponed.
A group of Vietnamese-Americans living in Wichita had proposed the memorial in 2006, but veterans opposed loudly to placing it in the city’s Veterans’ Memorial Park (pictured), saying that the Veterans’ Memorial is to memorialize U.S. veterans – not other countries’ veterans.
In the latest attempt to arrive at a compromise, the city has proposed to place the South Vietnamese memorial at an adjacent location, with an entrance that’s on a different side, and have the South Vietnamese memorial be separated from the Veterans’ Memorial Park by trees, shrubs, and other landscaping so that from the South Vietnamese Memorial one cannot see the Veterans’ Park.
The compromise is detailed in a letter posted on the Kansas Veterans’ Action Committee web site here.
The controversy has alienated the two camps – the Vietnamese-American community and the veterans and their families. At a city council meeting on Tuesday, one speaker went so far as accusing the Vietnamese of violating their citizenship oaths by wearing South Vietnamese military uniforms – reports the Wichita Eagle here.
Some flavor of the animus can be seen reflected in the comments posted to that story. (Presumably, the more acidic and abusive comments were already removed.)
The opposition to the placement of the new memorial is so consuming, it occupies the entire front page of the Veterans’ group web site here.
The memorial was first proposed by the Vietnamese community in 2006, and presented at a meeting of the city’s park board on August 14, 2006, as showin the minutes here.
According to the minutes, the architect for the memorial said that the Vietnamese community “chose Veteran’s Park because it is a memorial; it is there to honor fallen soldiers and is easy to visit by the public.”
The proposed original design would include three flag poles flying the flags of the U.S., Kansas, and the former South Vietnam.
The park board gave conditional approval. The president of the board at the time, Janet Miller, is now on the city council. She continues to be the champion of placing the memorial in Veterans’ Park.
Send Sinh Tho Nguyen there!
He should be able to talk some sense into these American Vietnam Vets
Technically you can’t use the public land and tax payers money to support for your allies and build a memorial. So from the tecnical point of view, the apposing team has a valid point. However, from the allies good soliers point of view, it should be. It’s a very sensitive issue and I don’t blame the fellow American Families feel violated.