‘Closure for all of us’: Bend’s refreshed Vietnam Veterans Memorial rededicated on national day in their honor

(Update: adding video and comments by veteran Mark Wirges, Colonel Mike Brock)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ). -- Friday was National Vietnam Veterans Day, set aside to remember and honor those who served in that long and difficult war. In a special event to mark the occasion, Bend's Chapter 820 of the Vietnam Veterans of America rededicated the newly remodeled Vietnam War Memorial at Deschutes Memorial Gardens.

About 50 people gathered for the ceremony at the memorial, first dedicated in 1968 to the area's Vietnam veterans who lost their lives. The names of service members who died after it was created had not been added, and over the past 50-plus years, the memorial started to deteriorate.

 "It has taken some three months of hard work by members and volunteers both material, funds and labor," Bill Gabriel told NewsChannel 21. "It now has a new look."

Fellow veteran Mark Wirges said Friday, "When I was working on the memorial myself, my feelings were every time I polished up again, because I knew most of those guys on the wall. And so it meant a lot to me that it means a lot to their families.”

"Over the years, the concrete looked horrible, the overgrowth of the brush was horrible," he said. "And so we yarded all that out, and reconfiguring it and and the design you see today. And we shined it up and looks a lot better, and hopefully get another few years out of that, anyway." 

Along with cosmetic repairs to the area, the renovation added a paver-stone walkway, and made it ADA-accessible. 

The project would have cost $52,000. But With the help of 14 local contractors and over 15 contributors of free material and labor, the project ended up being only $17,000.

Marine Colonel Mike Brock of Bend was guest speaker at the event.

"I have recognized the first and last names today on this wall," he told the crowd. "There are 27 other names on this memorial. They all had one thing in common. They chose to serve our country during a period of great strife and turmoil. They - they were in the arena."

The Marine Corps League and Veterans of Foreign Wars Honors Squad staged a 21-gun salute. The Band of Brothers Flagline was also present for the ceremony.

Wirges said, "This closure is closure for all of us. Yeah, well, I hope that they aren't forgotten, and they never will be forgotten.”

It capped a week of military honors in Central Oregon that began with an observance of National Medal of Honor Day and included Thursday's public memorial service and military funeral for Pearl Harbor survivor Richard "Dick" Higgins.

With Memorial Day coming up in May, Chapter 820 plans to put flags on all the veteran grave sites and cemeteries in Bend. That includes the Greenwood and Pilot Butte Cemetery.

To learn more about National Vietnam Veterans Day, visit the VA's page about it here.