Construction on Angel Fire replica of Vietnam veterans wall could begin this summer
Jul. 10—A years-long effort by New Mexico veterans to build a replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Angel Fire is close to becoming a reality.
Advocates have raised enough funding for the monument, which will be half the size of the 500-foot-long Washington, D.C., version, and groundbreaking on the project could come by the summer's end, said Edward Mendez, who oversees the Angel Fire Vietnam Veterans Memorial for the state Department of Veterans Services.
The memorial overlooks the Angel Fire State Veterans Cemetery that opened in 2020.
"This entire campus is going to be a big draw for the state of New Mexico," Mendez told lawmakers on the interim Legislative Military and Veterans' Affairs Committee last week.
He said the project, expected to cost $1.5 million to $1.7 million, could take up to six months to complete.
Veterans have been working on the project since 2018 and for decades have been coming to Angel Fire, where the family of Lt. Victor David Westphall III — killed in an ambush in 1968 — built a chapel to honor his memory and veterans of the Vietnam War.
In 2019, leaders of the Vietnam Veterans of America Northern New Mexico Chapter 996 and the state Department of Veterans Services signed an agreement to designate a site for the wall at the Angel Fire memorial.
Most of the money for the project came from the Legislature's capital outlay funding. The rest came from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office and fundraising efforts conducted by Chapter 996.
The original monument in Washington, dedicated in 1982 and featuring the names of more than 58,000 Americans who died in the Vietnam War — including 398 from New Mexico and 17 from Santa Fe — attracts millions of people each year.
Mendez has said about 50,000 visitors come to the Angel Fire memorial every year. He believes more will visit after the wall is built.
Another half-size replica of the memorial, the mobile, the 250-foot-long Wall That Heals, drew hundreds of visitors to Fort Marcy Ballpark in Santa Fe, where it stood for about a week in March 2014.
Jerry Martinez, vice president of Chapter 996, said many people who lost friends or family members in the war cannot afford to travel to Washington to see the original monument.
"It will be something very personal to them to go up there and see the names of those loved ones on the wall," he said of the upcoming Angel Fire memorial.
State Rep. Harry Garcia, D-Grants, a Vietnam veteran, told Mendez and others in attendance at last week's meeting he often rides his motorcycle across the country to visit the wall.
The Angel Fire replica, he said, "is just as important as the one in Washington, D.C."
State Veterans Services Secretary Donnie Quintana said he does not want the sacrifices of the nation's Vietnam veterans to be forgotten.
The memorial wall will help us "praise and honor our veterans," he said, adding Angel Fire is "a perfect location, a place of peace."
"What a great place to come to deal with demons you may be dealing with, to come and heal. What a great place to be put to rest — and to remember those who are at rest," he said.
Organizers initially hoped the Angel Fire wall would be constructed and ready for visitors by the end of 2021. But the COVID-19 pandemic hindered their ability to raise funds, which led to delays, Martinez said.
