If you’ve seen the USS Midway Museum in the past few days, you’ll notice the historic aircraft carrier is covered with yellow ribbons.
I learned today that the approximately 60,000 ribbons honor the same number of members of the United States Armed Forces who were killed in action during the Vietnam War.
The ribbons, tied several days ago around the edge of the aircraft carrier, will remain in place through Memorial Day. Visitors who go to the flight deck’s information stand can ask to tie their own yellow ribbon.
I notice some of the ribbons have messages written upon them. Loved ones can be remembered in this way.
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Veterans of the Vietnam War are being remembered and honored in San Diego this Veterans Day weekend. A special display created for the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration can be viewed at Broadway Pier, all weekend through Monday during 2024 Fleet Week San Diego.
I came upon the commemoration display while walking inside the pier’s Port Pavilion.
The friendly people you see above told me all about this special recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War. By official proclamation, the nationwide commemoration began on Memorial Day, May 28, 2012 and will continue through Veterans Day, November 11, 2025.
I observed posters and a visual timeline that help one recall a difficult time in world history. I learned that Vietnam Veterans have been receiving special lapel pins as a lasting memento of our nation’s gratitude for their sacrifice during the war. I also learned there’s an extensive Corridor Exhibit inside the Pentagon that tells the story of the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam War. An online virtual tour can be found here.
Importantly, oral histories have also been preserved. Well over one hundred Vietnam Veterans have spoken of their personal experiences during the war. Their video recordings are collected on the United States of America Vietnam War Commemoration website. If you’d like to listen to these oral histories, visit this web page. You’ll hear of pain, fear, courage, friendship.
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A fantastic event kicked off Fleet Week San Diego this evening. At the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park, members of Navy Band Southwest joined members of Marine Band San Diego for a spectacular Military & Veteran Appreciation Concert!
The music was rousing, patriotic, and even jazzy at times. But the highlight of the concert occurred before a single instrument was played. A group of Vietnam Veterans were called to the front of the audience in order to be recognized and honored.
Each hero shook the hand of San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and received a special cap and Vietnam Veteran Commemorative Pin. Then all who’d been recognized formed a line for photographs.
I took my own photos from a distant bench. You can see the appreciation and the smiles.
If you’d like to learn more about San Diego Fleet Week, which in 2024 runs until November 11, click here! There are free activities available to the public, including tours of Navy and Coast Guard ships!
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
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A little-seen plaque in Old Town San Diego State Historic Park marks the original site of the San Diego Peace Memorial. The bronze plaque is located near the corner of San Diego Avenue and Twiggs Street, in an unobtrusive spot behind the Old Town Trolley Tours ticket booth.
The plaque reads: Honoring San Diego’s sons and daughters who lost their lives in the Vietnam War, and remembering those who remain missing. 1964-1975. First dedicated on this site in 1969. Relocated to the Veterans Memorial Center, Balboa Park, 2115 Park Boulevard, San Diego, in 1996.
Back in 1969, volunteers created two concrete monuments on Roman Catholic Diocese land here in Old Town. Plaques listed those from San Diego County who were killed or designated missing in action during the Vietnam War. Two more plaques full of names were added to the San Diego Peace Memorial in 1974. It was one of the first Vietnam War memorials in the United States.
In 1994 the diocese sold the property and the memorial was moved to the Veterans Museum and Memorial Center in Balboa Park.
In 2014, on New Year’s Eve, I visited the the renamed Vietnam Veterans Peace Memorial in Balboa Park.
You can revisit that old blog post by clicking here.
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I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
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A patriotic Massing of the Colors event is returning to San Diego this October. The grand procession of flags will feature from 40 to 50 Color Guards from around our region, and will honor Vietnam Veterans, as 2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.
The 67th Annual Massing of the Colors and Service of Remembrance, presented by the San Diego Chapter of The Military Order of the World Wars, is free and open to the public. The many Color Guards will assemble in Balboa Park’s Spreckels Organ Pavilion on October 14th, and the ceremony will commence at 10:30 am.
This year is also the 125th Anniversary of the famous march Stars and Stripes Forever. John Philip Sousa marches will be played by San Diego Civic Organist Raul Prieto Ramírez during the procession as it enters and exits the pavilion. The event is co-sponsored by the Spreckels Organ Society.
If you know of a Color Guard in San Diego that would like to participate, use the contact email shown in the graphic below.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
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Three years ago I visited Miramar National Cemetery during the weekend of Memorial Day. I took photographs and posted a blog concerning the cemetery’s Liberation statue, which is a powerful memorial to prisoners of war.
I didn’t realize at the time the statue contains a time capsule.
During a recent visit to the San Diego Veterans Museum, I observed a display concerning the time capsule.
San Diego Chapter 1 American Ex-Prisoners of War – WWII, Korean War, Vietnam War, U.S.S. Pueblo. Greetings to the generation of 2045. Carefully enshrined in this time capsule are former prisoners of war’s actual experiences, stories of their lives before, during and after World War II, both European and Pacific Theaters, through all wars that followed to the capture of the U.S.S. Pueblo by the North Koreans in 1968.
The Time Capsule includes approximately 100 DVDs of member’s biographical testimonies video taped from 2002 to the statue’s placement September 2011. The capsule also includes Chapter support (PTSD) meetings, activities, documentaries, history of the chapter and statue, books, pictures and other memorabilia.
The sacrifices of many shall not be forgotten.
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A beautiful, very meaningful monument is planned for Coronado. What you see above is a small model of the proposed sculpture. I saw it today at the USS Midway Museum.
The League of Wives Memorial Project is creating this memorial that honors military spouses.
In a void of public awareness and seeming lack of political attention to the circumstances of prisoners of war in Vietnam, Sybil Stockdale and The League of Wives bravely stepped out of their era’s traditionally passive role of military spouses to demand the humane treatment of their POW husbands… their actions ultimately influenced a reduction in prisoner torture and contributed to the safe return of 591 Service Members… The League of Wives Memorial Project seeks to honor these women, telling their story… this memorial will be the first public monument in the country to honor military spouses…
I learned the bronze sculpture will be placed in Coronado’s Star Park. The figure of Sybil Stockdale will face a flagpole with military wives standing behind her. A plaque tells how the League of Wives of American Prisoners of War became a national movement that changed history.
The memorial’s artists are Chris Slatoff and Elisabeth Pollnow.
Permits for the memorial have been obtained, now additional funds are needed to complete the project.
Interested in helping? Learn more or donate by clicking here!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
This morning, in San Diego, a 50th Anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War ceremony was held on the flight deck of the USS Midway Museum.
A large audience assembled to recognize Veteran service members who returned from Vietnam fifty years ago–including those prisoners of war held by the North Vietnamese who were released and repatriated on March 29, 1973.
The ceremony was emotionally powerful. Many silent tears were wiped away. Memories were shared of pain and grief, and relief and gratitude.
Four speakers shared their experiences.
Retired U.S. Marine Corps Col. James M. Collins spoke of his tour in Vietnam, and how he was injured by an enemy hand grenade. He has gone on support those in the military through his leadership in various organizations.
Roy A Knight, III spoke of the loss of his father during the Vietnam War, and the miraculous discovery of his father’s remains. He has gone on to serve as a search and rescue pilot with the Civil Air Patrol.
Courtney Herrmann was a young girl when her family evacuated from Saigon. Her family was flown onto the USS Midway during Operation Frequent Wind. Her memories of a harrowing experience, and her gratitude that she now lives in freedom in America, brought about a rousing ovation.
Retired U.S. Navy Cmdr. Everett Alvarez, Jr. was a prisoner of war at the Hỏa Lò Prison, also known as the Hanoi Hilton, where he was beaten and tortured. He survived his brutal imprisonment through faith and the support of other prisoners. He finally came home with honor intact.
The audience welcomed every Vietnam veteran home.
After the speeches, four memorial wreaths took wing, remembering those who sacrificed for their country in a difficult war half a century ago.
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Tomorrow, March 29th, 2023, marks an important anniversary. Fifty years ago United States troops completed their departure from Vietnam, and the last group of prisoners of war were freed.
A powerful exhibit at the Coronado Historical Association museum remembers the POWs who returned to freedom, and tells their moving stories. It’s titled Open Doors: Vietnam POWs Fifty Years of Freedom.
I wandered about the museum today and tried to imagine the horror. Displays recalled how prisoners of war in Vietnam suffered. It had been a struggle to merely survive.
I then gazed at portraits of freed POWs and read the accompanying profiles. I saw how differently each man adjusted to life after their experience.
Many successfully returned to a more “normal” life. Many, having risen out of hell, experienced a strengthened sense of purpose.
As the exhibition description states: Open Doors is a testament to the strength of the human spirit and the power of human will, it is also a celebration of that second chance at freedom.
This same exhibit originally debuted in Coronado 20 years ago. Today, after traveling around the nation, it has returned.
Visitors are reminded that we all have the capacity for extraordinary strength.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or Twitter!
Cool San Diego Sights! 