Vietnam War Memorials
An Illustrated Reference to Veterans Tributes Throughout the United States
Jerry L. Strait and Sandra S. Strait
ISBN 0-89950-329-2  $42.50 library binding  240 pp.

Out of Print

This journalistic reference work is the record of the American people's response to the wounds of the Vietnam War. Nearly 400 memorials and monuments, located all across the country, are detailed (background, organizations, individuals, fund-raising), with about 140 photographs.

The memorials featured are located in every state in the nation, as well as some in other countries. The result is a state by state listing which can also be used as a travel guide. Included are national, state, municipal, and organizational monuments erected to honor those who fought and died in Southeast Asia. Several memorials are dedicated to Prisoners of War. Monuments chosen were those that honored veterans of all wars in which Americans fought, as long as Vietnam was included in the tribute. (Many times an all-inclusive memorial was the best way for a community to pay tribute to their Vietnam veterans.)

There is a wide variety of tributes featured, from huge stone monoliths and granite walls, strikingly realistic bronze statues, whole parks and mountain-top chapels, to simple "Freedom Trees" and living monuments. They are located in national parks, on state capital grounds, county courthouses, Air Force bases, V.F.W. halls, farms, and on the front lawns of country churches. They truly span 'from sea to shining sea'. Many of these were built and dedicated to Vietnam veterans as early as 1966, and some were still under construction when the book went to print.

It is our desire that this book help veterans and the public alike to overcome Vietnam. The sacrifices made by the living are diminished only by those of our brothers and sisters who didn't come home. We must make every effort to insure that they receive the respect they deserve and that they never be forgotten, whether they are known to have made the ultimate sacrifice or are among the more than 2,400 still missing in action.

Show me the manner in which a nation or community cares for its dead and I will measure with mathematical exactness the tender sympathies of its people, their respect for the laws of the land, and their loyalty to high ideals.

- William Ewart Gladstone

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