Harlingen veterans to build monument honoring Vietnam soldiers

HARLINGEN — For decades, the area’s veterans have been calling for a memorial honoring the local soldiers killed during the Vietnam War.

Now, a veterans group is planning to build a 6 1/2-foot-high black granite monument dedicated to the 23 Harlingen soldiers killed during the war from 1961 to 1975.

As part of the project, city officials are making way for the $6,500 Vietnam Killed-in-Action Memorial Monument to stand before the Vietnam War exhibit at the Harlingen Veterans Memorial at Pendleton Park.

During a meeting, city commissioners accepted the monument’s donation from veterans with Chapter 856 of the Vietnam Veterans of America LRGV.

In his presentation, Victor Sabala, a Vietnam veteran from Brownsville, told commissioners the group had raised the money for the polished black granite monument to stand 6 1/2-inches high and 5-feet wide on a 2-foot-high granite base.

“I think it’s time that this get done — it’s been 53 years since the war ended,” he told commissioners during Wednesday’s meeting. “It’s something that’s long, long overdue. Most of us are in our 70s — late 70s, approaching 80. We can’t wait two months, three months, six months (longer) because who knows how long we’re going to be here, and we want to see this done before we die — because veterans never leave another veteran behind, and these guys have been forgotten for too long.”

During discussion, Commissioner Daniel Lopez said he wanted to make sure the number of fallen Harlingen soldiers whose names would be etched into the monument was accurate.

In response, Sabala said the group researched federal Vietnam War indexes to come up with its list of 23 fallen soldiers.

From the audience, Burt Castro said veterans knew most of the Harlingen soldiers killed during the war.

“About 80% of the guys who are up there, most of these guys knew — we went to school with them. We know them personally — grew up in the hood with them,” Castro, a Harlingen veteran, told commissioners.

The group, whose members packed City Hall, requested the monument stand at the site of Pendleton Park’s Vietnam War memorial.

“I think it would improve the park,” Sabala told commissioners.

Meanwhile, DawnRae Leonard, a member of the city’s Veterans Advisory Board, requested commissioners consider an alternate location within the park.

“We appreciate the intent and spirit of this project,” she told commissioners. “The Veterans Advisory Board enthusiastically endorses this worthwhile endeavor. The monument is a proper tribute to those local heroes who lost their lives while serving our country.”

However, board members found “pooling” at the proposed site, Leonard said.

“If the monument was placed inside the boundaries of the Vietnam Memorial, it would appear to lack uniformity and would not aesthetically fit the flow of the Veterans Memorial,” she told commissioners. “We believe the Veterans Memorial should be a stand-lone monument. Additionally, if we open the door for this monument piece to be constructed within the confines of the Veterans Memorial, we will then be compelled to entertain proposals for monuments representing any and all groups to do the same, running the risk of overcrowding the Veterans Memorial.”

In response, Javier Mendez, the city’s parks director, said he supported the veterans group’s proposed site, adding he cut irrigation to the area to stop any pooling.

“To me, it makes a lot of sense to have it next to the Vietnam monument,” he told commissioners.

During discussion, Mayor Norma Sepulveda said she stood behind the veterans group’s request to place the monument near the park’s Vietnam War memorial.

“I would really like to do what it is they want and where they want it,” she said, adding her father-in-law was a Vietnam veteran. “I say this because these gentlemen, they’re very proud of their service, and their families and their sacrifice.”

“We’re coming to a point in 10, 20, 30 years, there are no longer going to be folks like these gentlemen before us asking for something for their friends, so because they’re so intimately committed to this cause, I’d really like to honor them in a way that they’re going to feel happy about it.”