The Vietnam War era was a challenging time in American history. It took a heavy toll on the collective psyche. For the first time in our Nations’ history, service members came back to a divided and often ungrateful country. Some who served then have yet to be welcomed home, while others made the ultimate sacrifice.

At least 221 Tarrant County residents died as a result of the conflict in Vietnam. They’ve been identified as service members with Tarrant County as their home of record or are buried in the county’s cemeteries.

Currently, there’s no local memorial to honor those who died as a result of the war in Southeast Asia. Lead by Jim Hodgson, director of the Fort Worth Aviation Museum, the Tarrant County Vietnam Memorial Foundation (TCVMF) has been established.

TCVMF has begun a fundraising campaign focused on designing, building, and dedicating a monument to honor these service members. The memorial envisioned is intended to be a permanent display in Fort Worth’s Veterans Memorial Park on Camp Bowie Blvd.

Back in 2020, a contest was proposed to every school in the Fort Worth Independent School District – seeking designs for the memorial. The submission by Ryan Scieneaux, a former student at Brewer High School, proposed a memorial tree with leaves listing the Tarrant County residents who died serving during that era.

The concept has been further developed by sculptor Michael Pavlosky and landscape architect Nicolas Nelson. The final design for the memorial is a work in progress with active participation by the City of Fort Worth Parks Dept. and the city’s Arts Council.

TCVMF is confident this effort will be welcomed by fallen servicemember families and friends, as well as citizens and veterans across North Texas. This campaign will require a community effort in order to recognize the sacrifices made by those brave individuals.

This project cannot be completed without the generosity of the community. TCVMF is appealing to civic and business leaders, national and local veterans service organizations, as well as patriotic groups and individuals across North Texas to make this memorial a reality.