By Audrey Posten
Ground has been broken for the Giard Northeast Iowa Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park, a community-driven initiative to honor the service, sacrifice and legacy of Vietnam veterans from across Northeast Iowa.
The milestone reflects about a year of behind-the-scenes work by the Northeast Iowa Vietnam Veterans Association, who initially selected the site in Giard, along Highway 18, to house its memorial float which recognizes the 53 individuals from the six-county area who died in the Vietnam War.
“This discussion has come up over the years as we’re aging. What would we do with our memorial float?” said Dennis Mason, who’s president of the group that formed in 1982. “We looked at many sites, and drove by here one day. An Eagle Scout had put a flag pole out here, and we thought, ‘Wow, that would be a good site.’ We’re really tickled with the site and its exposure along Highway 18 and paved road coming off.”
“So it started out as a storage area for our float, and now it’s blossomed into a memorial park in honor of the 53 names from six Northeast Iowa counties,” he added.
The project will create a permanent, educational and reflective memorial space featuring interpretive exhibits, historical panels and recognition elements that preserve the stories of local Vietnam veterans for future generations.
A core group of seven or eight veterans has been working on planning and design, lining up contractors, gathering contact information, fundraising and other key efforts to get the project off the ground. So far, they’ve raised around $150,000 of their $450,000 goal, with an estimated completion of the end of July 2027.
“We’ve gotten private donations, grant money, support from businesses,” said Mike Schmelzer, the group’s treasurer. “A lot of the donations have come from Vietnam veterans themselves.”
Funds will go toward erecting a monument etched with the 53 names of Northeast Iowa veterans killed in Vietnam. The monument will be 12 feet long, four feet high in the middle and three feet on the ends, made from the same black granite—from the same quarry—as the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
Pedestals around the monument will recognize all the branches of service, then three flag poles carrying the U.S., Iowa and POW flags will be placed and lighted behind the monument.
A memorial plaza with benches and landscaping, and eventually Vietnam War interpretive panels, will be part of that section of the park too.
Other project elements include the float shed, ADA restrooms, veteran’s rock, a shelter, nature play area, the aforementioned Eagle Scout flag project and interpretive panels commemorating the Giard Tract, awarded to Basil Giard in October 1800 as one of several Spanish land grants in what is now Iowa.
An ADA trail system will connect the pieces, and a parking lot will include eight to 10 spaces.
Group member Greg Clark said there will also be a “welcome home” arch before visitors enter the plaza.
“‘Welcome home’ is a big thing for Vietnam veterans,” he stated. “That will set the tone.”
Additionally, $50,000 of the total raised will be placed into a perpetual endowment to help cover maintenance of the site, and Mason said a board will be established to oversee and maintain the park.
Although there are other Vietnam veterans memorials in Iowa, Clark said none specifically recognize those killed in action from a specific area.
“So in that regard, this is very unique in the state of Iowa,” he shared. “Six percent of the KIAs from Iowa are from these six counties. Northeast Iowa gave a lot.”
The Northeast Iowa Vietnam Veterans group hopes the memorial park will tell their story—and that of others who served, who continue to feel the effects and lack of welcome upon returning home. It will offer historical context for community members, civic organizations and schools.
“A lot of people will ask, ‘Why only Vietnam?’” Clark said. “That’s because Vietnam was different. Not worse, just different.”
“We all grew up in the shadow of our parents’ generation to save the world from Hitler. We all believed it was a good, honorable thing to serve our country. When we came home from Vietnam, we got spit on, we got called baby killers. People were frustrated with the war, but they took it out on the warrior instead of the politicians, which is where the problem lied,” he reflected. “We’re trying to rectify that by doing this. To explain to people what it was like in more of a personal sense. It’s a place for healing for everybody—for veterans who served, for the families who had veterans who served, for society because of the tear in the fabric of society in the wake of the Vietnam War.”
Schmelzer hopes it will recognize, too, those who later passed from the effects of the war. Vietnam veterans were some of those who originally blew the horn on the impacts of Agent Orange, PTSD, veteran suicide rates and more.
“We also want to recognize the parents,” said Schmelzer. “My mother had three boys over there in a four-year period. She wrote a lot of letters, and I’m sure she did a lot of praying. They went through hell too. The 58,000 names on the wall, the parents had to live with that son being gone after the fact. And sons who came back, maybe not disabled, but they’re not the same either. Their life was turned around too.”
All the veterans agreed now is the right time for a project like this. Of the nearly 2.8 million American service members who served in Vietnam, only 600,000 are left.
“Why are we doing this now?” said Schmelzer. “Because we’re running out of time.”
“We want to leave a legacy,” added Gary Meyer.
For Mason, the support the project has gotten so far “means the world to us.” As earth works continues, he anticipates more interest will be generated. Those who would like to learn more can follow the “Northeast Iowa Vietnam Veterans Association” on Facebook. The group also remains active supporting veterans with gas cards, utility assistance, handicap accessibility projects, funeral honor guards and more.
Those who would like to directly support the memorial park can do so at dbqfoundation.org/giardvets, or mail a gift of cash or check (payable to Giard NE Iowa Vietnam Veterans Memorial Park) to the Community Foundation of Greater Dubuque, 700 Locust St., Suite 195, Dubuque, IA 52001.
Also watch for other fundraisers, including one at Pizza Ranch in Prairie du Chien, Wis., from 4 to 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 2.
