Fundraising Begins for a Vietnam Memorial on Campus.

A university fund has been established for a permanent memorial on campus to the patriotism and service of students and graduates from all of Stetson’s colleges and schools who served in Vietnam or during the Vietnam era.

According to Dr. Jay Mechling (Class of 1967), the Stetson Vietnam and Vietnam Era Veterans Memorial will include benches, specimen trees, and a plaque in an appropriate campus space to honor veterans and to recognize their service and sacrifice as well as to support reflection about war and peace throughout history.

Mechling, who is not a vet, sees the Vietnam war as a central fact of the Stetson experience of students of his era, and he argues that the lessons of Vietnam will continue to be important to twenty-first century Stetson students, who will be called upon, as citizens if not soldiers, to make important decisions about America’s role in the world. For all of these reasons, but most importantly to honor extraordinary patriotism and service in a time of war, Mechling argues that this memorial is “the right and moral thing to do.”

Those interested in contributing may make a donation or pledge of any amount directly by using the university’s Development Office on-line gift form found at www2.stetson.edu/give and designating the gift for a “Campus Vietnam Memorial” under “Other.”

Specific details of the Memorial will be determined depending on the success of fundraising. The goal is to have the site ready for dedication at 2015 Homecoming, the 40^th anniversary of the end of the war for Americans.

Questions or comments about this Memorial should be referred to Mechling, Ph.D., or Dr. Grady Ballenger, professor of English: [email protected] or [email protected].

(In the photo above-left, from Ned Ricks ’68, soldiers set up a night defensive position while on patrol in the Central Highlands. In the photo, right, also from Ned Ricks, the concertina barbed wire surrounds FSB Blackhawk, located in the central highlands of Vietnam.)

By Grady Ballenger