As I drove around New Mexico a few years ago, I was surprised to find a Vietnam veterans memorial near the little town of Angel Fire. My afternoon at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park (its current name) was one of the most memorable of my life. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, built in Angel Fire, New Mexico, by Dr. Victor Westphall in memory of his son and all who died in the Vietnam War, serves as a reminder of the sacrifices made by all the Vietnam veterans and their loved ones.
Driving from Angel Fire up to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, I had trouble deciding what I was seeing. The chapel seems suspended in the mountain air, as if it is lifting up the painful memories of all those, Vietnam veterans or not, who still grieve the losses sustained in the Vietnam War.
As I walked around the grounds and through the visitors’ center, I was almost afraid to enter the chapel of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. The interior is stark. A few bleacher-style seats have no decoration, only cushions and boxes of tissues. Along the rear wall, photos of those who died in Vietnam War are rotated monthly, to give human faces to the numbers. I imagine that everyone who comes there, Vietnam veteran or not, fills the emptiness with personal memories and emotions. The name of the nearby town, Angel Fire, seems strangely appropriate. There is something angelic here, and there is a sense of a cleansing fire.
There is, of course, a much better known memorial to those who died in the Vietnam War that cuts into the ground in Washington, DC. I cannot understand why this other Vietnam Veterans Memorial has not become better known, except that it is not in Washington but off the beaten trail in Angel Fire, New Mexico. But, it is worth the trip, because to me it is about hope, rising like the building itself, out of a father’s (and a nation’s) profound grief.
The day I was there, I talked with Dr. Victor (“Doc”) Westphall, for whom the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and its mission were as deeply personal as they were openly expansive. It was as if in losing his son, he had adopted almost sixty thousand sons who had died in Vietnam and opened a spiritual home at Angel Fire for all Vietnam veterans and their friends and families.
“Doc” Westphall died in 2003, and ownership of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial has gone through various legal changes. Opened in 1971 as the Vietnam Veterans Peace and Brotherhood Chapel, this shrine in the mountains near Angl Fire, New Mexico, is currently operated by the New Mexico State Parks as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park, the first Vietnam veterans memorial state park in the nation.
It amazes me that the horrors of the Vietnam War, still strong in the memories of Vietnam veterans and all of us, can be remembered at a place of such beauty and peace as this almost otherworldly Vietnam Veterans Memorial. If you would like to experience the Vietnam Veterans Memorial State Park yourself, you can get directions here and prepare for your trip at the website.
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