This photo of The Wall that is totally different from any other I have seen. This photo has not been photoshopped. The surviving warrior appears leave this earth as he joins his fallen comrades in The Wall. The Wall is truly a place of many wonders. (The same photo in Warriors Remembered has had some color adjustment, but the effect is identical.)
A most amazing photo of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial from Warriors Remembered.
March 7, 2011 by
Warriors Remembered at American Legion Spring Festival this Saturday
March 3, 2011 by
I will be at the American Legion Post 472 Spring Festival this Saturday from 11 to 4 with a booth for Warriors Remembered. Live bands and lots of food. Please come visit at 7599 Ave C off I-45 at Wayside. Hope for good weather.
Warriors Remembered presentation on 17 Feb very well received.
February 23, 2011 by
Had a very sucessful presentation on Warriors Remembered to a breakfast gathering of about 60 people at Holy Spirit Episcopal Church last Thursday. Sucess measured in the emotional response from veterans and non-veterans alike. Every presentation helps to spread the word to more veterans that this documentary of memorials is available. Special thanks to Bob Lowe for the invitation.
Warriors Remembered is now in the Soldier Store in the National Infantry Museum
February 14, 2011 by
Warriors Remembered is now on the shelves of the Soldier Store in the National Infantry Museum in Fort Benning/Columbus, Georgia. In partnership with world renowned outfitter Ranger Joe’s, I am very proud to bring this documentary of 100 Vietnam veterans memorials from 50 states to the Home of the Infantry. If you have not yet visited this new museum, it is definitely worth a trip.
Warriors Remembered now in Angel Fire Gift Shop
February 10, 2011 by
Warriors Remembered is now on the shelves of the Angel Fire Gift Shop near Taos, New Mexico. As one of the three memorials that were the impetus for my beginning the Warriors Remembered journey, I am very proud to have partnered with the David Westphall Veterans Foundation to carry the completed book.
Warriors Remembered Olympia, Washington story in the Nov/Dec issue of the VVA Veteran
January 24, 2011 by
The Olympia, Washington Vietnam veterans memorial story extracted from Warriors Remembered is now available on line in the Nov/Dec 2010 Veteran. You can find it on page 34 of The Veteran at http://vva.org/veteran.html by clicking on page 34 of the current issue.
Washington State Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Olympia, Washington
Dedicated May 25, 1987The second Washington State Vietnam Veterans Memorial may not have happened had it not been for the emotions engendered by the first. On Veterans Day 1982, also dedication day for The Wall in Washington, D.C., a scroll containing the names of the state’s killed and missing during the Vietnam War was sealed in a granite memorial at one of the most prominent locations on the Capitol grounds. Though pleased with the recognition, many Vietnam veterans felt pangs of regret for this “second burial” of their fallen comrades and committed to “bring their names into the light”.
Soon after, VVA Chapter 130 was founded, adopting that commitment as its most critical mission. The idea remained a dream until the mid-1980s when a group from that chapter, led by the founder Rick Covert, gained permission and support from Secretary of State Ralph Munro to build a second memorial using private funds. Soon after, a plywood moving wall built by Tumwater High School students listing Washington’s casualties began a tour of the state raising funds from almost 1,500 donors.
The second memorial was to be cut into the slope of a small knoll on the Capitol grounds beneath a large aging maple tree. The architectural firm EDAW of Seattle sent Kris Snyder to translate the veterans’ ideas into a plan. Though not a veteran, Snyder gained complete support when his design exceeded all the veterans’ expectations. A 45-foot, green granite, semicircular rolling wall, broken near its end by a cut in the shape of North and South Vietnam, represents the circle of life disrupted by war. The green waving wall symbolizes the mountains of this Evergreen State, but also the country’s rising troop commitment to the war during the terms of three Presidents – Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon. The wall drops off sharply after the silhouette cut, depicting the rapid withdrawal of U.S. forces following the 1973 Paris Peace Accord. Next to the silhouette, a nearly white blemish in the granite seems to portray the absence of American warriors, leading to the fall of Saigon. With the intent that the first casualty should be closest to the entrance, the names of Washington’s 1,116 lost and missing are listed from right to left in counter flow to the represented timeline, coincidently emphasizing the contradictions of the war. Unique to this memorial, a small hole next to each name is designed to accept flags or flowers of remembrance and is placed at a height accessible to children and those in wheelchairs. On the tenth anniversary of the memorial, an inscription was added to the wall honoring all who served and those who, on their return, were most affected by the war.
On POW/MIA Recognition Day, September 16, 1988, the original Vietnam Veterans Memorial was rededicated as a memorial for those missing in all wars and those prisoners who have never been accounted for. A remembrance ceremony is held at the two memorials each Veterans Day.
Acknowledgements: Memorial Committee and VVA Chapter 130 members: Chuck Manley, Army Vietnam veteran and Bob Cox, Marine Korea veteran and Air Force Vietnam veteran; Marygrace Jennings, Cultural Resource Manager, State of Washington Facilities Division
Location: State Capitol campus between the Insurance Building (14th Avenue SW) and SE Angle Drive
Artists: Architect: Kris Snyder, EDAW, Seattle, Washington
General Hal Moore Receives Warriors Remembered
January 17, 2011 by
Al Nahas and General Hal Moore exchange books in Auburn, Alabama. General Moore thanked Al for creating a memorable book that would be valued by all veterans.
The VVA Veteran
November 24, 2010 by
Warriors Remembered got a mention in the VVA Veteran. See the original article here.
3rd Brigade 82nd Airborne Reunion
November 22, 2010 by
Warriors Remembered also got a mention in the 82nd Airborne newsletter about my talk at their reunion in April. Click here to see the original article.
Our second guest was Albert Nahas. He is the author of “Warriors Remembered” a 208 page, 11.5x 11.5 hard cover photo documentary of Viet Nam Veteran Memorials from all over the country. He highlights 50 of the 1000 or so in existence. Many are incredibly touching and heart rending and full of love for us and our fallen brothers. The book should be out this fall. You can either use the attached order form or keep in touch with your local book seller. It is truly a unique and moving publication.
Warriors Remembered in the Missoulian
November 21, 2010 by
Warriors Remembered recently got a mention in the Missoulian. You can read the original article here.
New book honoring veterans features Missoula’s Memorial Rose Garden Park
Even though he has spent the past six years cataloguing and visiting memorials to veterans of the Vietnam War across the United States, Albert Nahas still gets choked up when he talks about the impact of his first visit to Missoula’s Memorial Rose Garden Park.
“I get emotional even talking about this,” said Nahas. “It’s a memorial that I just really feel needed to be publicized. It’s really one of the main inspirations for this whole project.”
On Thursday, Nahas’ work goes public with the release of “Warriors Remembered,” a 240-page, photo-illustrated tome that catalogues and explores the stories of what he considers America’s 100 most interesting, moving and significant memorials to Vietnam veterans.
And right there on the cover is “On Eagles’ Wings,” the 1989 sculpture by Deborah Copenhaver that serves as Montana’s official state memorial to the soldiers who served and those who died in the Vietnam War.
Nahas, a veteran of the Vietnam War himself and a retired Army colonel who now lives in Sugar Land, Texas, said he first became interested in documenting Vietnam memorials in 2002, when he stumbled across a website called VietVet.org, which was devoted to pinpointing the vast array of memorials around the country.
One of the memorials featured on that site was “On Eagles’ Wings.” As it happened, Nahas was planning to come through Missoula on a fishing trip the following summer. He decided to stop by the memorial, and try to find out who was behind its creation.
That’s how he came to meet Missoula resident Charlie Brown, who headed up the committee that created and installed the memorial. Brown and his wife, Sue, hosted Nahas during his visit to Missoula, and introduced him to other members of the committee that put together the memorial.
The more he learned about the history behind the memorial, the more Nahas became inspired.
“I realized that there must be interesting stories behind all of these memorials – most of which were put together through volunteer, grassroots efforts like the one that happened in Missoula,” said Nahas. “So between the VietVets website, and what I learned from Charlie Brown, I just got interested in finding and telling those stories.”
***
Little did he know how big an effort that would turn out to be. When he started the project, Nahas knew of only a few dozen memorials to Vietnam veterans around the country. Today, he pegs that number at more than 1,000. Those range from small plaques at county courthouses, to massive sculptural displays and even a living memorial of 58,000 loblolly pine trees – one for every soldier killed in Vietnam – along a stretch of Interstate 85 in North Carolina.
Nahas said that narrowing his focus down to just 100 of those memorials proved difficult.
“There are stories and people behind every one of those memorials,” said Nahas. “Many of these (memorials), people worked at them 10 years or more; they took a substantial period of time and effort by people who were struggling to make a living at the same time. It really was a sacrifice on the part of these people, so that’s something I really wanted to honor through this book.”
Brown said that in that context, the book’s upfront celebration of Missoula’s memorial is all the more moving.
“It’s great recognition for Montana and for this memorial,” said Brown. “But more importantly, I think this book will bring attention again to the Vietnam generation and the problems they’ve encountered and are still encountering; and veterans in general, because much of what these gentlemen and women are facing in Afghanistan is just as difficult or worse.”
For his part, Nahas said all gratitude should go to the people who inspired the book in the first place.
“I just want to thank and honor the people there in Missoula who took the time and effort to build that memorial,” said Nahas, “because without their effort, there would be no ‘Warriors Remembered.’ ”
“I really feel that any Vietnam vet who’s close to Missoula,” he added, pausing to check his emotions, “needs to stop and see that memorial. It just resonates with anybody who has come too close to death. It’s so, so inspiring.”
