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Roy Valdez visits the Vietnam Veterans Monument at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda, CA on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. Valdez’s broth-in-law was killed in Vietnam in 1970. The monument depicts a Marine running through the jungles of Vietnam in 1971-1972. (Photo by Paul Bersebach, Orange County Register/SCNG)
Episode 2526 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about the Vietnam Veteran Monument that was added to the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California. The featured story comes from The Orange County Register and is titled: Nixon Library adds monument to Vietnam War veterans on 50th anniversary. It was submitted by Heather McRea, the City editor. She has worked for the Orange County Register for more than 15 years, starting in north Orange County and now spanning much of the county.
McRea’s story described the addition of a Vietnam Veteran Monument to the Nixon Presidential Library. The memorial was unveiled on Wednesday, March 29, 2023 which was appropriately the national Vietnam War Veterans Day. It commemorates the 50th anniversary of the last American troops withdrawing from the war – a milestone in Richard Nixon’s presidency.
The monument is a bronze statue that depicts a Marine running through the jungles of Vietnam. Though it is meant to represent all veterans of the war, a Marine was chosen as a nod to the presidential library’s proximity to Camp Pendleton and the prevalence of the Marine community in Southern California, said Joe Lopez, spokesperson for the Nixon Foundation.
Bob Bostock, a Nixon scholar and consultant to the Nixon Foundation said this: “From the time he entered office, President Nixon was committed to ending the war without jeopardizing the future of South Vietnam.”
He added this about the President, “The Nixon Doctrine – that the United States would aid countries threatened by communism but shouldn’t send troops to fight – was something the president wrote about a lot after his time in office – “that there should be no more Vietnams,” that there should be another way to help. This was a matter that was of concern to him.”
Listen to episode 2526 and discover more about the Vietnam Veteran Monument that was added to the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California.
